Show HN: Managing internet addiction by rate limiting updates
Hi!<p>I made a Chrome extension for a new internet addiction management strategy. I&#x27;ve always uninstalled or worked around website blockers, and after spending a week on a vacation in Colorado where I was completely off the grid, I wanted to try a new approach.<p>What makes this different is that it&#x27;s not about blocking access to certain sites, or requiring a delay, or setting a time budget. It&#x27;s about changing the internet&#x27;s highly addictive, variable rewards into much more manageable, consistent, predictable rewards.<p>The extension works by delivering content once a day. Right now it only works with three websites (Hackernews, Gmail, Nytimes), but I&#x27;m working on adding more. Both NYTimes and Hackernews have a section called &quot;front&quot; which shows a version of the website that only updates - you guessed it - once a day. The extension detects if you&#x27;re visiting one of the restricted sites and redirects you to a new url. The Gmail version of the extension hides some email badge counts and redirects to a search for messages delivered prior to midnight.<p>It took a few days for my behavior to change, but I&#x27;m no longer compulsively checking those sites, hoping for new content to appear. I&#x27;ve also felt no urge to open an incognito browser to work around the extension, so I take that as evidence that this new management strategy is working.<p>You can install the extension from the Chrome Store <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;chrome.google.com&#x2F;webstore&#x2F;detail&#x2F;the-daily-delivery&#x2F;bigfigbfaagonjfiioojoddgjnefdnoi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;chrome.google.com&#x2F;webstore&#x2F;detail&#x2F;the-daily-delivery...</a>  
To follow along as we make progress, join us at <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.merini.io&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.merini.io&#x2F;</a>  
The extension is open source and available <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;awkwardengineer&#x2F;merini">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;awkwardengineer&#x2F;merini</a>.<p>Cheers!