The evils of social media are quite well known and the effects are so well documented that Meta, YouTube and TikTok are now facing a lawsuit for making their platforms addictive. Australia has already banned social media for those under 16, and several other countries are considering similar restrictions. And let’s face it: Social media can lead you into a vicious spiral that is a complete waste of time and energy.
Enter Pankaj Tanwar, a developer who just created a Chrome extension that makes you scream at your computer to unblock social media sites. “A productivity tool that blocks social media sites and makes you say embarrassing things to unblock them,” reads the extension’s description on Google’s web store. But yelling at your PC or Mac isn’t the whole solution.
That’s pretty cool
First, you have to reach the volume threshold while screaming, “I’m a loser.” Next, you need to increase the tempo of your embarrassing scream to unlock the time for which a blocked website is accessible. Depending on how desperate you are out loud, you can free up a few seconds or minutes to browse social media.
I tried. I failed.
The open-source tool is aimed at students, home workers and basically anyone with a computer who gets easily distracted and ends up wasting valuable time by mindlessly browsing X or Instagram. By default, the extension blocks X, Instagram and Facebook. However, if you have other digital vices, Hm, You can simply add the URL and block these websites as well.
I needed it urgently
Once you set up the extension, which also works well in other Chromium-based browsers like ChatGPT Atlas, you will encounter a full-screen blocker every time you try to visit the distracting pages. There’s even a visualizer where you can see your screen’s volume and a timer underneath that shows you the duration for which the sites will be unblocked.
This will not be the first project of this kind. Rhys Kentish, a software engineer at a UK-based company, has created an app called “Touch Grass” that requires you to go out, literally touch grass, and click a snapshot as proof to unlock distracting apps on your phone.
As for the Scream to Unlock browser extension, I desperately needed such a solution. I visit X and Reddit to research and gather news, but I often waste too much time getting distracted by random posts and rabbit holes. Luckily, what little honor I have left keeps me from yelling at my PC and waking my cat.
