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I built a chrome extension to help me with this addiction. It replaces the distracting parts of social networking sites (like Facebook's News Feed) with a todo

I built a chrome extension to help me with this addiction. It replaces the distracting parts of social networking sites (like Facebook's News Feed) with a todo app to keep me on task whenever I look to these sites to procrastinate. The app unlocks the site for a configurable amount of time after I've completed my tasks. Also supports Hacker News, Reddit, YouTube, Twitter, and Product Hunt. It has helped me a lot with a. Recovering lost productivity and b. Feeling less addicted to these sites. If curious: Todobook https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/todobook/ihbejplhkeifejcpijadinaicidddbde?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/todobook/ihbejplhk...

bencollier49 9y ago
Now if someone can figure out a way for Facebook to rewrite their site in pure WebAssembly, they won't have to worry about pesky programmers like you breaking people's habits.
- ravenstine 9y ago
  That's the most vexing thing I've read in a while. I manage Facebook addiction by not having the app installed on my phone and only using the browser(which works just fine). If they ever compiled their site to WebAssembly, that would be the end of them for me. The whole idea of WebAssembly is simultaneously awesome and scary.
  - bencollier49 9y ago
    Yeah, I think I only just cottoned on to the true appeal of WASM for certain sectors of the web industry.
- hello_newman 9y ago
  I guess I'm new to the whole WebAssembly thing. Could you please elaborate more on that statement? If FB were to do that, how does WebAssembly stop you from doing what OP suggested?
  - Houshalter 9y ago
    You can't modify or block the newsfeed if they don't even have a DOM. Just feed raw pixels to the screen via webasm. And they have some incentive to do that because like many sites, they are in a constant war against scrapers and Adblock.
  - bencollier49 9y ago
    Theoretically, it doesn't. Practically, it would be a complete nightmare, as you'd have to decompile the source code into a high level language, then come up with some kind of (proper) hack, and run a code insertion tool in your browser to reinsert the changes. And they'd probably break any time Facebook altered their code at all, and moreover, FB could use a polymorphic compiler to make such things impossible. And finally, decompiling the program would probably be illegal if it was to circumvent the intended use of the site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompiler#Legality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompiler#Legality
  - thebokehwokeh2 9y ago
    I believe the assumption is that WebAssembly code wouldn't run on the typically browser API accessible DOM. Therefore chrome extensions, which operate on accessing markup via JS would now be rendered obsolete.
- izacus 9y ago
  Or just add DRM. Worked for video.
arximboldi 9y ago
That is awesome! I have been using News Feed Erradicator for a while but that is next level! Too bad I am using Firefox ;) Also, recently I realized that when I in nervous procrastination mode I also check GitHub too much to look at the stream of updates and "someone starred ..." stuff, I have looked for disabling the stream but could not find it... I guess I could try play with the Stylish plugin to make it disappear or sth. Admittedly, sometimes I wish I could remove all "points" and "numbers" from the web, even on HackerNews. There is this quick brain sugar rush when you see these numbers rise, but just a minute later I feel empty, sad, and dirty for having this narcissistic automatic response. This is one of the reasons (the other ones go around privacy and tracking) that I don't do Google Analytics nor any kind of access.log aggregation/analysis on my websites. Maybe this is a stupid rationalization, but I'd like to think that we value stats too much and that they distract us from doing better qualitative design and analysis...
- localhost3000 9y ago
  I'm toying with the idea of having the Todobook extension replace all Like/Comment/Upvote counts, etc with the number of tasks you have in your todo queue. I think the Likes count is toxic and encourages really weird behavior.
CCing 9y ago
Its amazing

bencollier49 9y ago

Now if someone can figure out a way for Facebook to rewrite their site in pure WebAssembly, they won't have to worry about pesky programmers like you breaking people's habits.

ravenstine 9y ago
That's the most vexing thing I've read in a while. I manage Facebook addiction by not having the app installed on my phone and only using the browser(which works just fine). If they ever compiled their site to WebAssembly, that would be the end of them for me. The whole idea of WebAssembly is simultaneously awesome and scary.
- bencollier49 9y ago
  Yeah, I think I only just cottoned on to the true appeal of WASM for certain sectors of the web industry.
hello_newman 9y ago
I guess I'm new to the whole WebAssembly thing. Could you please elaborate more on that statement? If FB were to do that, how does WebAssembly stop you from doing what OP suggested?
- Houshalter 9y ago
  You can't modify or block the newsfeed if they don't even have a DOM. Just feed raw pixels to the screen via webasm. And they have some incentive to do that because like many sites, they are in a constant war against scrapers and Adblock.
- bencollier49 9y ago
  Theoretically, it doesn't. Practically, it would be a complete nightmare, as you'd have to decompile the source code into a high level language, then come up with some kind of (proper) hack, and run a code insertion tool in your browser to reinsert the changes. And they'd probably break any time Facebook altered their code at all, and moreover, FB could use a polymorphic compiler to make such things impossible. And finally, decompiling the program would probably be illegal if it was to circumvent the intended use of the site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompiler#Legality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompiler#Legality
- thebokehwokeh2 9y ago
  I believe the assumption is that WebAssembly code wouldn't run on the typically browser API accessible DOM. Therefore chrome extensions, which operate on accessing markup via JS would now be rendered obsolete.
izacus 9y ago
Or just add DRM. Worked for video.

arximboldi 9y ago

That is awesome! I have been using News Feed Erradicator for a while but that is next level! Too bad I am using Firefox ;) Also, recently I realized that when I in nervous procrastination mode I also check GitHub too much to look at the stream of updates and "someone starred ..." stuff, I have looked for disabling the stream but could not find it... I guess I could try play with the Stylish plugin to make it disappear or sth. Admittedly, sometimes I wish I could remove all "points" and "numbers" from the web, even on HackerNews. There is this quick brain sugar rush when you see these numbers rise, but just a minute later I feel empty, sad, and dirty for having this narcissistic automatic response. This is one of the reasons (the other ones go around privacy and tracking) that I don't do Google Analytics nor any kind of access.log aggregation/analysis on my websites. Maybe this is a stupid rationalization, but I'd like to think that we value stats too much and that they distract us from doing better qualitative design and analysis...

localhost3000 9y ago
I'm toying with the idea of having the Todobook extension replace all Like/Comment/Upvote counts, etc with the number of tasks you have in your todo queue. I think the Likes count is toxic and encourages really weird behavior.

CCing 9y ago

Its amazing