13 ms·

Using Home Assistant, adguard home and an $8 smart outlet to avoid brain rot

371 points by remuskaos 1y ago

remuskaos 1y ago
Neil Chen just posted this genius idea to disable internet filters for social media addicts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44346450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44346450 I've used his idea and make a home assistant automation that temporarily disables adguard home to do the same thing.
- NWChen 1y ago
  Amazing work & thanks for the shoutout Roman!
wqeqweqw 1y ago
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wqeqweqw 1y ago
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wqeqweqw 1y ago
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FrankPetrilli 1y ago
Seeing this, I had the initial idea of using AdGuard logs to trigger a power-down of your device if you try and visit brainrot content. I think I like it that way more.
stavros 1y ago
Why is this using a plug rather than a Zigbee button? I don't understand the plug bit.
- rcarmo 1y ago
  The plug has a button, and thus sends out an event when it is manually turned on.
  - stavros 1y ago
    Yes, but so does a button, no?
    - taude 1y ago
      I think this button is powered by the outlet.
      - ryukoposting 1y ago
        Zigbee buttons can last for years on a single coin cell. I think the smart plug may add a layer of inconvenience, since you have to lean down to the outlet to press it. The inconvenience is a feature in this case, though.
    - nomel 1y ago
      It's literally a button, with some extra stuff attached to it. The only requirement for a button is that if it's accessible to the person trying to press it (no pictures posted of that, feel free to assume). But, there's intentional inaccessibility built into this project, so that may be an intentional goal. Thats's the great part about home assistant though...anything that can change states, with intent/meaning, is waiting to be tied to an automation.
    - florbo 1y ago
      I'm guessing they already had the plug (I myself have a small stockpile of extra Z-wave/wifi/Zigbee devices for when I inevitably need/want to hook something up), so there wasn't a need to buy something else.
    - 0x457 1y ago
      OP had a socket with a button and decided to use it as a button. Yes button works, but you don't have it, like OP, then socket like that will do. As a bonus, you can put a light bulb that indicates the state.
urbandw311er 1y ago
Nice idea. But it needs to be harder for me to reverse. I think I would very quickly develop the reflex of disabling WiFi on my phone so it loads the site via mobile data.
- mingus88 1y ago
  Like any addiction, the addict needs to first _want_ to stop
  - yunwal 1y ago
    Having the addiction mere seconds away ensures that any addict will not stop, no matter how much they want it. There needs to be enough separation between you and the thing that your rational brain kicks in.
- magarnicle 1y ago
  The trouble I have with all tech-based attempts I've set up to stop myself getting distracted is that it is me versus a much-more-motivated me. We have the same technical skills but one of us is not going to stop until he wins.
  - ajolly 1y ago
    Time Lock boxes. Unless the addicted me wants to resort to hardware damage, he's not winning.
- j45 1y ago
  You can run a VPN no matter the data connection. And delete the apps and have to reinstall them, or login via web.
- remuskaos 1y ago
  Yeah, thats just how it was when I completely blocked those services on my network. My hope is that this gentle nuding towards "come on, you've had 15 minutes, now just wait another 45, please?" is enough of a hurdle. I think it's a moderation tool.
suprjami 1y ago
Glad to see GL-iNet get a mention. Their routers are OpenWrt compatible by design, the factory firmware is based on owrt or you can flash upstream for a "pure" image. I've used them for many years and they're great.
- remuskaos 1y ago
  I really like them too. Not only are they OpenWRT compatible, they run more or less stock OpenWRT with a custom UI. They do also expose the standard LuCi for advanced settings too.
p1necone 1y ago
I don't know if this'll help anyone else or if it's just specific to me but I'll throw it out there anyway. Drop the idea that short form content like youtube shorts or tik toks or whatever is somehow ignoble and worthy of scorn. Recognize it's just a fun way to kill some time. Internalized that? Cool. Now find a comfy place to sit or lie down and binge that shit. For hours. Do it for as long as it brings you joy. Had your fill? Cool. Keep doing this, whenever you've got some free time and there isn't something else you want to do more binge that short form "brainrot" content. Do not let the thought that you're somehow "wasting" your time enter your mind. You're having fun, and that's all that matters. If you're anything like me once you've internalized the idea that it's just dumb short videos for fun and you've watched hours of them, you'll just get bored of it. Maybe you'll spend 20 minutes scrolling occasionally but your brain aint gonna rot.
- devttyeu 1y ago
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  - charcircuit 1y ago
    Entertainment being "deep" doesn't make it any less of a "waste" of time.
  - femiagbabiaka 1y ago
    Nit: Genocide isn't about numbers. And watching reels isn't dying, at least not in any other sense than an existential one.
    - devttyeu 1y ago
      Maybe that's about the wasted human potential that's depressing. Other than that, this analogy only makes sense when framed in terms of some philosophy - i.e. if you are "long-term utilitarian" I don't think it's correct to look at massive consumption of brainrot favorably, even though individual experiences are technically kinda pleasurable.
userbinator 1y ago
Distracting yourself from distractions by building an overly complex system to help you do that, and writing an article about it, is certainly a very HN-ish thing to do.
- gerdesj 1y ago
  It is possible that OP has made some parts of the story up or at least sexed it up a bit to jibe with the HN mindset (whatever that is). I found the article refreshingly short and to the point whilst being jolly amusing and informative. The bloke is German so English is a second language - very good skills. That's a skilled technical writer, that is. Bookmarked. More please!
  - remuskaos 1y ago
    Thank you, I really appreciate this! Alas, none of it is made up - honestly. My wife and I kept finding ourselves in the garden on a beautiful day scrolling reddit and instagram for up to an hour, on several occasions. We kind of know we're wasting our time, and we kind of want to, too. It's kind of a constant struggle of uber-me against animal-me and I really hope this moderation tool works how I image it. After I read Neils post I've completed the entire setup - including blog post - in maybe three hours. So if this keeps me from doom scrolling for an hour at least three times, I've gained some time back.
    - gerdesj 1y ago
      You really are a very good technical communicator. Me and the wiff (not a spelling mistake! - very silly joke) find ourselves doing a similar thing and we are probably rather older than you (50-60). The world is changing very quickly and who knows what is "right"? I love your approach and that your missus obviously supports your mild madness. You clearly have a great relationship. Keep an eye on what is really important and don't "sweat the small stuff" as our US mates say.
- cainxinth 1y ago
  We want technological solutions to problems created by technology, and structured approaches to recovering from over-structuring our lives.
polivier 1y ago
I love Home Assistant. Many years ago we gave our then-toddler an old digital camera to play with. Some time later, we looked at the pictures he took. We were horrified to find out that he took pictures of the outside of the house at night. As in, our toddler would unlock and open the front door, go outside (at night!), take pictures of the house, go back in, close and lock the door, and go back into his bed. I bought some wireless door sensors and created an automation where if the sensors are triggered between 10pm and 6am, the lights in our room would turn on to wake us up. I expanded this later and today we have sensors on all doors/windows that kids can use to leave the house (we have 4 young kids). As it happens, these are the same doors/windows that burglars can use to enter the house, so this doubles as an alarm system (that we can activate when we leave the house and will notify us remotely if the sensors are triggered). The best part is that with Home Assistant you are not locked into an app/ecosystem. Our door/window sensors are of a different brand than our lightbulbs, and we control everything from a single app.
- mcgrath_sh 1y ago
  What door/window sensors did you use?
  - polivier 1y ago
    I almost went for the Ikea ones, but in the end I went with Aqara. More expensive, but very small/reliable, and the battery holds up very well.
    - gerdesj 1y ago
      I put Zwave window sensors on all windows at work (40 of them). These devices have two AAA cells. One of the gent's window sensors used to "die" far quicker than any of the others and eventually stopped working. I should explain: "gent's" := men's toilet. The sensors are quite large and simple and the gent's windows tend to be left open more often than the other windows. One of the two gent's sit down toilets is generally preferred to the other for very minor reasons but it is preferred. So, the battery terminals were getting slightly corroded on that window sensor because it was open more often to the outside environment. I've rubbed a bit of silicone sealant into the crack between the two parts of the sensor and expect that it will survive better now.
awaymazdacx5 1y ago
rasberry pi-5 for HDMI virtualization on a Wayland windows manager column should serve adguard assistance
tmhrtly 1y ago
The one thing I’ve found that works for me on my phone is the OneSec app. It hooks into shortcuts (for apps) and a Safari extension (for websites) to prompt you with a small task to do (eg a 20sec breathing exercise) before you access the softblocked content. The time delay + task is enough for me to remind myself that this isn’t what I want to be doing. And in the instances where I actually do consciously want to visit XYZ platform, I can just do the exercise and be granted access. The only downside is that the Safari extension is granted full access to my web browsing in order to facilitate the website blocking. They say they don’t capture any data and at this point do trust them (you may feel differently). For blocking apps, no private data sharing is required.
- johncole 1y ago
  Could I use a shortcut on iPhone to do something similar?
- AdieuToLogic 1y ago
  > The one thing I’ve found that works for me on my phone is the OneSec app. Sometimes the simplest solution is the Luddite one; put the phone down and step away from it. If this appears to be an insurmountable ask, or otherwise infeasible, I humbly suggest there is a greater concern to be addressed than what yet another app on the phone which cannot be distanced may remedy.
  - nkrisc 1y ago
    It’s too true. If your problem is your phone, the solution won’t be found on your phone.
  - tmhrtly 1y ago
    I agree, this is the pathway. For me, this is the tool I’ve found that works to nudge me down that pathway by adding extra friction to the routes to cheap, crap dopamine. Often an interruption from this app is accompanied by my brain going “huh, so what do you really want to use this time for?”.
- dsauerbrun 1y ago
varenc 1y ago
I do something similar but with a global keyboard shortcut on my Mac managed with Alfred. When I hit the shortcut it just changes my system's DNS resolver to 1.1.1.1 and reset the macOS DNS cache. And then automatically switches back in 1 minute or 10 minutes depending on the shortcut. Quite easy, but doesn't help anyone but me. Though I like that it only disables blocking on my device and not my entire network.
gerdesj 1y ago
When I specify smart home stuff, I have several criteria. Things like controls must be mains powered or on UPS or both. If it is important, then if wifi/ethernet out then it should still work. So my doorbell used to have a link to a mechanical chime (Doorbird), the current Reolink jobbie does not but it is PoE and all my switches have UPS. The Reolink does have a separate chime that plugs into a power socket and a way better camera. Oh and none of my home things ever get unfettered access to the internet. I have two VLANs for IoT: things is for most devices and sewer is for those that scare me somewhat. I treat the whole thing the same way I do corporate IT and I do point Nessus at it. I have several Home Assistants that I look after - home and work and several customer ones too. The OP's choice of smart plug is clearly designed to be mildly inconvenient to get at but also reliable. I'll put money on there being a monitoring function too. That's a nerd that does things "proper like".
- phil21 1y ago
  > The Reolink does have a separate chime that plugs into a power socket and a way better camera I started using PoE to DC power adapters for most of these use-cases. It lets me centralize my UPS to the utility closet, and offer a ton of runtime that way. My router + switching setup now powers my entire house including remote switches (PoE++ powered) and access points. Security cameras (and slowly now - security floodlights) are PoE powered as well. I have probably 12-14 hours of runtime off a large stack of UPS batteries, and could add a few days to that if I wheel my "whole home" UPS I never had the time to hardwire into the house yet into the room. Items like the fiber NIU and cable modem are powered via PoE splitters into 9/12/24V outputs they require. I still have a few random bridges and other various devices I should convert as well, but I've been lazy lately. I went with two lower port count "core" switches vs. one so I have redundancy there, so one going out will only take out half my network and I can still operate in a degraded mode - my AP density is such that it works fine, and I can re-patch the in-wall and PoE powered switches for workstations. The only issue is that it kind of grows with a mind of it's own... I am up to an absurd number of devices on the network now.
  - gerdesj 1y ago
    I live in a UK sticks n bricks two storey roof and a half building. It looks like a bungalow with three bedrooms in the roof on floor one (second floor for the US and other one based countries). I have two switches in my attic above those bedrooms and most of the rest of IT. That means I can easily run cable drops along my attic and then under the roof to the outer walls of my house. I've run four Cat 5e to my garage and four to my sitting room. Basically, I think we are both doing it right. The biggest criticism of IoT is insecure and unreliable. If you buy any old tat and wire it up to Alexa well that's fine if it hangs together and it mostly does these days. If you squint hard enough, you can forget about Alexa being a bit of a security ... quandry. There is no such thing as absurd when it comes to automation.
ricardobeat 1y ago
Unfortunately there is no way to block websites at the network level (that I know of) as browsers and mobile phones have started using hardcoded DNS resolvers, so the utility of this is limited.
- AdieuToLogic 1y ago
  > Unfortunately there is no way to block websites at the network level (that I know of) as browsers and mobile phones have started using hardcoded DNS resolvers, so the utility of this is limited. Any network traffic which goes through a gateway under your control can be controlled. DNSSEC[0] can make this more difficult, true, but not impossible as content ultimately originates from an IPv4/IPv6 address and can be dropped by upstream network devices. 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System_Security_Extensions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System_Security_Ex...
- remuskaos 1y ago
  I thought I commented on this from my phone, but it seems it didn't go through, so I'll try again. Most apps I've tried (and browsers too) can be blocked just fine via DNS. The gli.net interface allows "Override DNS Settings of All Clients" and "DNS Rebinding Attack Protection". This way, the router itself is the only resolver actually reachable. Even if I try some manual `dig google.com @1.1.1.1`, I still get the routers result. The only thing it can't block is DNS over Https. I think that's by design, it seems it's impossible to block that.
- elric 1y ago
  > browsers and mobile phones have started using hardcoded DNS resolvers, so the utility of this is limited Got a source for that? No phone or browser that I'm aware of uses "hardcoded DNS resolvers". They all use the OS DNS servers which the OS gets from DHCP.
  - brynx97 1y ago
    https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https By extension, any application or device could rely on DoH instead of OS-provided or network-provider DNS servers. It is controversial, since it both helps individuals combat ISP or government censorship and also helps bad actors do bad things [1]. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_over_HTTPS#Analysis_of_DNS_traffic_for_security_purposes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_over_HTTPS#Analysis_of_DNS...
jz10 1y ago
NextDNS Privacy and Parental control features works really well for me
- day_visit 1y ago
  I do the same but I'm embarrassed to say sometimes I go into the parental settings and change them to "get my fix". I haven't found an option to "lock" the settings from being changed when I need them most.
AdieuToLogic 1y ago
Here is a gradated set of exercises to determine one's phone addiction, if any, in increasing levels of potential difficulty. 1 - on an off day, with no reason to require phone use, put your phone in a dresser drawer for the day and do not use or look at it. 2 - on an off day, with no reason to require phone use, put your phone in a dresser drawer for the day and leave your residence for at least one hour. 3 - leave your phone at home when either meeting friends, getting lunch, or going to the grocery store. 4 - leave your phone at home when going into the office for one day. 5 - leave your phone in a dresser drawer for an entire weekend. 6 - leave your phone at home when traveling for more than a day (vacation, visiting family, etc.).
- Exoristos 1y ago
  Your tests may work on plebs, but I have a smartwatch.
- myself248 1y ago
  These are very good. I take phone-free walks around the neighborhood, to the store, downtown for a festival. It feels weird at first, then it's nice. I took an internet-free vacation last spring, and it was lovely. While planning the trip, I made sure my old TomTom's built-in maps seemed accurate to what I was seeing online; there wasn't a lot of road-building activity there in the last decade or two. Then I turned off my phone and locked it in the glovebox, there in case of emergency. Then I took a deep breath, started the car, and headed north. It was awesome just knowing there was no way a notification could ding, nobody could call me, no news headline could pop up and harsh my mellow. Even if those things didn't actually happen constantly, simply existing in a state where they could was stressful, apparently, and turning the damn thing off was remarkably cathartic.
  - AdieuToLogic 1y ago
    Reading your story brings joy to my heart, not for any reason other than I can see in my mind's eye what you describe. And it rocks! Freedom is a gift, not from without, but found from within. We set ourself free by our choices. And we shackle ourselves by same.
weq 1y ago
Modern day methadone maintainence plan. So many people in this world need this button! Goodluck on your journey! I quite tech at home when i started working as a software engineer over 20yrs ago. Hobbies are a great way to break free, and quitting news fullstop is another good way to avoid social media. You dont even need to delete your accounts, just turn off all notifications of every app and avoid coupling your life to them in any way.
cdg007 1y ago
I'm down with innovations
alkonaut 1y ago
I'm sure there's no amount of ads or social media that will rot your brain faster than trying to do programming in YAML.
- tigrezno 1y ago
  With homeassistant you don't need yaml for 99% of automations. I'm sure OP posted the source code of the automation but used the graphical UI to make it. You also have the possibility to use Node-Red for that.
  - alkonaut 1y ago
    I have used HA quite a bit and been burned. I think in the choice between graphical "no code" or "low code" and yaml, I choose yaml. But to do imperative logic there is just one useful way: a proper programming language. This is just like when writing CI scripts for GitHub actions or Azure pipelines: the right amount of yaml (if it must be used at all) is to just invoke a program in some more expressive language than yaml.
    - bmicraft 1y ago
      Depending on when that was, it might make sense to try it again. I've got 25+ actively used automations and none of them need custom yaml anymore. Things really are continuously improving with every passing year. I do use the (jinja) value templates in some places though.
cess11 1y ago
Conditioning oneself like some kind of lab rodent is unlikely to avoid brain damage. Shame has a better and longer track record.
roscas 1y ago
"The internet is the bane of my existence. Ads, distractions, sponsored content, bad news, bad ideas, more ads, social media, antisocial media, even more ads." that is call for Pi-Hole on a Raspberry PI install. Wide block of ads and dns firewall all in one, without any "free trial" from AdGuard. I wonder what is their default "white list"...
baggachipz 1y ago
This is so much easier to accomplish with a pi-hole and the pihole remote app[1]. Block requests out to forbidden sites at the network level, disable the pihole for an amount of time when you want to slum it. [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pi-hole-remote/id1515445551 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pi-hole-remote/id1515445551
- remuskaos 1y ago
  Well the inconvenience is kind of the point. I don't want another app on my phone to allow me to indulge. The point is that I have to walk, physically move, to the corner where the plug is, push the button and be allowed to procrastinate. That is the design hurdle, not so high as to block completely, but just high enough that I don't get sucked into the endless feed each time I'm bored. Edit: Also I want the granularity. Ads should always - without exception - be blocked. Social media should be allowed on demand and within the rules.
hydrogen7800 1y ago
I did something more low tech, but much more expensive. Not that I have the tech chops to do anything more sophisticated than install pihole (with help), though. I bought a 2001 E39 BMW that requires some work. I still doomscroll too much, but half is now about this car and car repair in general.
neurostimulant 1y ago
An ikea tradfri on/off switch seems better for this purpose. I think the one with just on/off switches is discontinued as it's no longer listed in their website, and it has steep discount in their brick and mortar stores, cost <$8 the last time I grabbed one.
orsenthil 1y ago
Does anyone know how to block ads in Amazon Prime Videos?
- e40 1y ago
  My serious answer to this is to torrent the content.
rlue 1y ago
Great concept. But author, if you're reading this: a piece like this could be so much better with a quick summary of what it does somewhere in the first two paragraphs. Something like: "I've leveraged my home automation system to limit my access to social media to 15 minutes at a time, no more than once an hour. Using the built-in adblock feature, my router black-holes DNS queries to social media by default—which I can now disable temporarily by pushing the button on any one of several smart outlets around my house."
BrandoElFollito 1y ago
I must have missed something, but why not just using a zigbee button to trigger the 15 min of open internet?
guluarte 1y ago
I have found that the problem with smart home automation is that it suddenly stops working after an update, and fixing it becomes annoying, and when you have multiple triggers and routines you lose track of what activated what.
- bmicraft 1y ago
  That's not really true with home assistant. The two exceptions are devices which - require third party cloud services - use custom integrations (because they aren't natively supported by HA) Which is also why everybody and their dog recommend getting devices which support local control.
uwe72 1y ago
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371 points by remuskaos 1y ago

Neil Chen just posted this genius idea to disable internet filters for social media addicts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44346450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44346450 I've used his idea and make a home assistant automation that temporarily disables adguard home to do the same thing.

NWChen 1y ago
Amazing work & thanks for the shoutout Roman!

wqeqweqw 1y ago

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wqeqweqw 1y ago

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wqeqweqw 1y ago

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FrankPetrilli 1y ago

Seeing this, I had the initial idea of using AdGuard logs to trigger a power-down of your device if you try and visit brainrot content. I think I like it that way more.

stavros 1y ago

Why is this using a plug rather than a Zigbee button? I don't understand the plug bit.

rcarmo 1y ago
The plug has a button, and thus sends out an event when it is manually turned on.
- stavros 1y ago
  Yes, but so does a button, no?
  - taude 1y ago
    I think this button is powered by the outlet.
    - ryukoposting 1y ago
      Zigbee buttons can last for years on a single coin cell. I think the smart plug may add a layer of inconvenience, since you have to lean down to the outlet to press it. The inconvenience is a feature in this case, though.
  - nomel 1y ago
    It's literally a button, with some extra stuff attached to it. The only requirement for a button is that if it's accessible to the person trying to press it (no pictures posted of that, feel free to assume). But, there's intentional inaccessibility built into this project, so that may be an intentional goal. Thats's the great part about home assistant though...anything that can change states, with intent/meaning, is waiting to be tied to an automation.
  - florbo 1y ago
    I'm guessing they already had the plug (I myself have a small stockpile of extra Z-wave/wifi/Zigbee devices for when I inevitably need/want to hook something up), so there wasn't a need to buy something else.
  - 0x457 1y ago
    OP had a socket with a button and decided to use it as a button. Yes button works, but you don't have it, like OP, then socket like that will do. As a bonus, you can put a light bulb that indicates the state.

urbandw311er 1y ago

Nice idea. But it needs to be harder for me to reverse. I think I would very quickly develop the reflex of disabling WiFi on my phone so it loads the site via mobile data.

mingus88 1y ago
Like any addiction, the addict needs to first _want_ to stop
- yunwal 1y ago
  Having the addiction mere seconds away ensures that any addict will not stop, no matter how much they want it. There needs to be enough separation between you and the thing that your rational brain kicks in.
magarnicle 1y ago
The trouble I have with all tech-based attempts I've set up to stop myself getting distracted is that it is me versus a much-more-motivated me. We have the same technical skills but one of us is not going to stop until he wins.
- ajolly 1y ago
  Time Lock boxes. Unless the addicted me wants to resort to hardware damage, he's not winning.
j45 1y ago
You can run a VPN no matter the data connection. And delete the apps and have to reinstall them, or login via web.
remuskaos 1y ago
Yeah, thats just how it was when I completely blocked those services on my network. My hope is that this gentle nuding towards "come on, you've had 15 minutes, now just wait another 45, please?" is enough of a hurdle. I think it's a moderation tool.

suprjami 1y ago

Glad to see GL-iNet get a mention. Their routers are OpenWrt compatible by design, the factory firmware is based on owrt or you can flash upstream for a "pure" image. I've used them for many years and they're great.

remuskaos 1y ago
I really like them too. Not only are they OpenWRT compatible, they run more or less stock OpenWRT with a custom UI. They do also expose the standard LuCi for advanced settings too.

p1necone 1y ago

I don't know if this'll help anyone else or if it's just specific to me but I'll throw it out there anyway. Drop the idea that short form content like youtube shorts or tik toks or whatever is somehow ignoble and worthy of scorn. Recognize it's just a fun way to kill some time. Internalized that? Cool. Now find a comfy place to sit or lie down and binge that shit. For hours. Do it for as long as it brings you joy. Had your fill? Cool. Keep doing this, whenever you've got some free time and there isn't something else you want to do more binge that short form "brainrot" content. Do not let the thought that you're somehow "wasting" your time enter your mind. You're having fun, and that's all that matters. If you're anything like me once you've internalized the idea that it's just dumb short videos for fun and you've watched hours of them, you'll just get bored of it. Maybe you'll spend 20 minutes scrolling occasionally but your brain aint gonna rot.

devttyeu 1y ago
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- charcircuit 1y ago
  Entertainment being "deep" doesn't make it any less of a "waste" of time.
- femiagbabiaka 1y ago
  Nit: Genocide isn't about numbers. And watching reels isn't dying, at least not in any other sense than an existential one.
  - devttyeu 1y ago
    Maybe that's about the wasted human potential that's depressing. Other than that, this analogy only makes sense when framed in terms of some philosophy - i.e. if you are "long-term utilitarian" I don't think it's correct to look at massive consumption of brainrot favorably, even though individual experiences are technically kinda pleasurable.

userbinator 1y ago

Distracting yourself from distractions by building an overly complex system to help you do that, and writing an article about it, is certainly a very HN-ish thing to do.

gerdesj 1y ago
It is possible that OP has made some parts of the story up or at least sexed it up a bit to jibe with the HN mindset (whatever that is). I found the article refreshingly short and to the point whilst being jolly amusing and informative. The bloke is German so English is a second language - very good skills. That's a skilled technical writer, that is. Bookmarked. More please!
- remuskaos 1y ago
  Thank you, I really appreciate this! Alas, none of it is made up - honestly. My wife and I kept finding ourselves in the garden on a beautiful day scrolling reddit and instagram for up to an hour, on several occasions. We kind of know we're wasting our time, and we kind of want to, too. It's kind of a constant struggle of uber-me against animal-me and I really hope this moderation tool works how I image it. After I read Neils post I've completed the entire setup - including blog post - in maybe three hours. So if this keeps me from doom scrolling for an hour at least three times, I've gained some time back.
  - gerdesj 1y ago
    You really are a very good technical communicator. Me and the wiff (not a spelling mistake! - very silly joke) find ourselves doing a similar thing and we are probably rather older than you (50-60). The world is changing very quickly and who knows what is "right"? I love your approach and that your missus obviously supports your mild madness. You clearly have a great relationship. Keep an eye on what is really important and don't "sweat the small stuff" as our US mates say.
cainxinth 1y ago
We want technological solutions to problems created by technology, and structured approaches to recovering from over-structuring our lives.

polivier 1y ago

I love Home Assistant. Many years ago we gave our then-toddler an old digital camera to play with. Some time later, we looked at the pictures he took. We were horrified to find out that he took pictures of the outside of the house at night. As in, our toddler would unlock and open the front door, go outside (at night!), take pictures of the house, go back in, close and lock the door, and go back into his bed. I bought some wireless door sensors and created an automation where if the sensors are triggered between 10pm and 6am, the lights in our room would turn on to wake us up. I expanded this later and today we have sensors on all doors/windows that kids can use to leave the house (we have 4 young kids). As it happens, these are the same doors/windows that burglars can use to enter the house, so this doubles as an alarm system (that we can activate when we leave the house and will notify us remotely if the sensors are triggered). The best part is that with Home Assistant you are not locked into an app/ecosystem. Our door/window sensors are of a different brand than our lightbulbs, and we control everything from a single app.

mcgrath_sh 1y ago
What door/window sensors did you use?
- polivier 1y ago
  I almost went for the Ikea ones, but in the end I went with Aqara. More expensive, but very small/reliable, and the battery holds up very well.
  - gerdesj 1y ago
    I put Zwave window sensors on all windows at work (40 of them). These devices have two AAA cells. One of the gent's window sensors used to "die" far quicker than any of the others and eventually stopped working. I should explain: "gent's" := men's toilet. The sensors are quite large and simple and the gent's windows tend to be left open more often than the other windows. One of the two gent's sit down toilets is generally preferred to the other for very minor reasons but it is preferred. So, the battery terminals were getting slightly corroded on that window sensor because it was open more often to the outside environment. I've rubbed a bit of silicone sealant into the crack between the two parts of the sensor and expect that it will survive better now.

awaymazdacx5 1y ago

rasberry pi-5 for HDMI virtualization on a Wayland windows manager column should serve adguard assistance

tmhrtly 1y ago

The one thing I’ve found that works for me on my phone is the OneSec app. It hooks into shortcuts (for apps) and a Safari extension (for websites) to prompt you with a small task to do (eg a 20sec breathing exercise) before you access the softblocked content. The time delay + task is enough for me to remind myself that this isn’t what I want to be doing. And in the instances where I actually do consciously want to visit XYZ platform, I can just do the exercise and be granted access. The only downside is that the Safari extension is granted full access to my web browsing in order to facilitate the website blocking. They say they don’t capture any data and at this point do trust them (you may feel differently). For blocking apps, no private data sharing is required.

johncole 1y ago
Could I use a shortcut on iPhone to do something similar?
AdieuToLogic 1y ago
> The one thing I’ve found that works for me on my phone is the OneSec app. Sometimes the simplest solution is the Luddite one; put the phone down and step away from it. If this appears to be an insurmountable ask, or otherwise infeasible, I humbly suggest there is a greater concern to be addressed than what yet another app on the phone which cannot be distanced may remedy.
- nkrisc 1y ago
  It’s too true. If your problem is your phone, the solution won’t be found on your phone.
- tmhrtly 1y ago
  I agree, this is the pathway. For me, this is the tool I’ve found that works to nudge me down that pathway by adding extra friction to the routes to cheap, crap dopamine. Often an interruption from this app is accompanied by my brain going “huh, so what do you really want to use this time for?”.
dsauerbrun 1y ago

varenc 1y ago

I do something similar but with a global keyboard shortcut on my Mac managed with Alfred. When I hit the shortcut it just changes my system's DNS resolver to 1.1.1.1 and reset the macOS DNS cache. And then automatically switches back in 1 minute or 10 minutes depending on the shortcut. Quite easy, but doesn't help anyone but me. Though I like that it only disables blocking on my device and not my entire network.

gerdesj 1y ago

When I specify smart home stuff, I have several criteria. Things like controls must be mains powered or on UPS or both. If it is important, then if wifi/ethernet out then it should still work. So my doorbell used to have a link to a mechanical chime (Doorbird), the current Reolink jobbie does not but it is PoE and all my switches have UPS. The Reolink does have a separate chime that plugs into a power socket and a way better camera. Oh and none of my home things ever get unfettered access to the internet. I have two VLANs for IoT: things is for most devices and sewer is for those that scare me somewhat. I treat the whole thing the same way I do corporate IT and I do point Nessus at it. I have several Home Assistants that I look after - home and work and several customer ones too. The OP's choice of smart plug is clearly designed to be mildly inconvenient to get at but also reliable. I'll put money on there being a monitoring function too. That's a nerd that does things "proper like".

phil21 1y ago
> The Reolink does have a separate chime that plugs into a power socket and a way better camera I started using PoE to DC power adapters for most of these use-cases. It lets me centralize my UPS to the utility closet, and offer a ton of runtime that way. My router + switching setup now powers my entire house including remote switches (PoE++ powered) and access points. Security cameras (and slowly now - security floodlights) are PoE powered as well. I have probably 12-14 hours of runtime off a large stack of UPS batteries, and could add a few days to that if I wheel my "whole home" UPS I never had the time to hardwire into the house yet into the room. Items like the fiber NIU and cable modem are powered via PoE splitters into 9/12/24V outputs they require. I still have a few random bridges and other various devices I should convert as well, but I've been lazy lately. I went with two lower port count "core" switches vs. one so I have redundancy there, so one going out will only take out half my network and I can still operate in a degraded mode - my AP density is such that it works fine, and I can re-patch the in-wall and PoE powered switches for workstations. The only issue is that it kind of grows with a mind of it's own... I am up to an absurd number of devices on the network now.
- gerdesj 1y ago
  I live in a UK sticks n bricks two storey roof and a half building. It looks like a bungalow with three bedrooms in the roof on floor one (second floor for the US and other one based countries). I have two switches in my attic above those bedrooms and most of the rest of IT. That means I can easily run cable drops along my attic and then under the roof to the outer walls of my house. I've run four Cat 5e to my garage and four to my sitting room. Basically, I think we are both doing it right. The biggest criticism of IoT is insecure and unreliable. If you buy any old tat and wire it up to Alexa well that's fine if it hangs together and it mostly does these days. If you squint hard enough, you can forget about Alexa being a bit of a security ... quandry. There is no such thing as absurd when it comes to automation.

ricardobeat 1y ago

Unfortunately there is no way to block websites at the network level (that I know of) as browsers and mobile phones have started using hardcoded DNS resolvers, so the utility of this is limited.

AdieuToLogic 1y ago
> Unfortunately there is no way to block websites at the network level (that I know of) as browsers and mobile phones have started using hardcoded DNS resolvers, so the utility of this is limited. Any network traffic which goes through a gateway under your control can be controlled. DNSSEC[0] can make this more difficult, true, but not impossible as content ultimately originates from an IPv4/IPv6 address and can be dropped by upstream network devices. 0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System_Security_Extensions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System_Security_Ex...
remuskaos 1y ago
I thought I commented on this from my phone, but it seems it didn't go through, so I'll try again. Most apps I've tried (and browsers too) can be blocked just fine via DNS. The gli.net interface allows "Override DNS Settings of All Clients" and "DNS Rebinding Attack Protection". This way, the router itself is the only resolver actually reachable. Even if I try some manual `dig google.com @1.1.1.1`, I still get the routers result. The only thing it can't block is DNS over Https. I think that's by design, it seems it's impossible to block that.
elric 1y ago
> browsers and mobile phones have started using hardcoded DNS resolvers, so the utility of this is limited Got a source for that? No phone or browser that I'm aware of uses "hardcoded DNS resolvers". They all use the OS DNS servers which the OS gets from DHCP.
- brynx97 1y ago
  https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https By extension, any application or device could rely on DoH instead of OS-provided or network-provider DNS servers. It is controversial, since it both helps individuals combat ISP or government censorship and also helps bad actors do bad things [1]. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_over_HTTPS#Analysis_of_DNS_traffic_for_security_purposes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_over_HTTPS#Analysis_of_DNS...

jz10 1y ago

NextDNS Privacy and Parental control features works really well for me

day_visit 1y ago
I do the same but I'm embarrassed to say sometimes I go into the parental settings and change them to "get my fix". I haven't found an option to "lock" the settings from being changed when I need them most.

AdieuToLogic 1y ago

Here is a gradated set of exercises to determine one's phone addiction, if any, in increasing levels of potential difficulty. 1 - on an off day, with no reason to require phone use, put your phone in a dresser drawer for the day and do not use or look at it. 2 - on an off day, with no reason to require phone use, put your phone in a dresser drawer for the day and leave your residence for at least one hour. 3 - leave your phone at home when either meeting friends, getting lunch, or going to the grocery store. 4 - leave your phone at home when going into the office for one day. 5 - leave your phone in a dresser drawer for an entire weekend. 6 - leave your phone at home when traveling for more than a day (vacation, visiting family, etc.).

Exoristos 1y ago
Your tests may work on plebs, but I have a smartwatch.
myself248 1y ago
These are very good. I take phone-free walks around the neighborhood, to the store, downtown for a festival. It feels weird at first, then it's nice. I took an internet-free vacation last spring, and it was lovely. While planning the trip, I made sure my old TomTom's built-in maps seemed accurate to what I was seeing online; there wasn't a lot of road-building activity there in the last decade or two. Then I turned off my phone and locked it in the glovebox, there in case of emergency. Then I took a deep breath, started the car, and headed north. It was awesome just knowing there was no way a notification could ding, nobody could call me, no news headline could pop up and harsh my mellow. Even if those things didn't actually happen constantly, simply existing in a state where they could was stressful, apparently, and turning the damn thing off was remarkably cathartic.
- AdieuToLogic 1y ago
  Reading your story brings joy to my heart, not for any reason other than I can see in my mind's eye what you describe. And it rocks! Freedom is a gift, not from without, but found from within. We set ourself free by our choices. And we shackle ourselves by same.

weq 1y ago

Modern day methadone maintainence plan. So many people in this world need this button! Goodluck on your journey! I quite tech at home when i started working as a software engineer over 20yrs ago. Hobbies are a great way to break free, and quitting news fullstop is another good way to avoid social media. You dont even need to delete your accounts, just turn off all notifications of every app and avoid coupling your life to them in any way.

cdg007 1y ago

I'm down with innovations

alkonaut 1y ago

I'm sure there's no amount of ads or social media that will rot your brain faster than trying to do programming in YAML.

tigrezno 1y ago
With homeassistant you don't need yaml for 99% of automations. I'm sure OP posted the source code of the automation but used the graphical UI to make it. You also have the possibility to use Node-Red for that.
- alkonaut 1y ago
  I have used HA quite a bit and been burned. I think in the choice between graphical "no code" or "low code" and yaml, I choose yaml. But to do imperative logic there is just one useful way: a proper programming language. This is just like when writing CI scripts for GitHub actions or Azure pipelines: the right amount of yaml (if it must be used at all) is to just invoke a program in some more expressive language than yaml.
  - bmicraft 1y ago
    Depending on when that was, it might make sense to try it again. I've got 25+ actively used automations and none of them need custom yaml anymore. Things really are continuously improving with every passing year. I do use the (jinja) value templates in some places though.

cess11 1y ago

Conditioning oneself like some kind of lab rodent is unlikely to avoid brain damage. Shame has a better and longer track record.

roscas 1y ago

"The internet is the bane of my existence. Ads, distractions, sponsored content, bad news, bad ideas, more ads, social media, antisocial media, even more ads." that is call for Pi-Hole on a Raspberry PI install. Wide block of ads and dns firewall all in one, without any "free trial" from AdGuard. I wonder what is their default "white list"...

baggachipz 1y ago

This is so much easier to accomplish with a pi-hole and the pihole remote app[1]. Block requests out to forbidden sites at the network level, disable the pihole for an amount of time when you want to slum it. [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pi-hole-remote/id1515445551 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pi-hole-remote/id1515445551

remuskaos 1y ago
Well the inconvenience is kind of the point. I don't want another app on my phone to allow me to indulge. The point is that I have to walk, physically move, to the corner where the plug is, push the button and be allowed to procrastinate. That is the design hurdle, not so high as to block completely, but just high enough that I don't get sucked into the endless feed each time I'm bored. Edit: Also I want the granularity. Ads should always - without exception - be blocked. Social media should be allowed on demand and within the rules.

hydrogen7800 1y ago

I did something more low tech, but much more expensive. Not that I have the tech chops to do anything more sophisticated than install pihole (with help), though. I bought a 2001 E39 BMW that requires some work. I still doomscroll too much, but half is now about this car and car repair in general.

neurostimulant 1y ago

An ikea tradfri on/off switch seems better for this purpose. I think the one with just on/off switches is discontinued as it's no longer listed in their website, and it has steep discount in their brick and mortar stores, cost <$8 the last time I grabbed one.

orsenthil 1y ago

Does anyone know how to block ads in Amazon Prime Videos?

e40 1y ago
My serious answer to this is to torrent the content.

rlue 1y ago

Great concept. But author, if you're reading this: a piece like this could be so much better with a quick summary of what it does somewhere in the first two paragraphs. Something like: "I've leveraged my home automation system to limit my access to social media to 15 minutes at a time, no more than once an hour. Using the built-in adblock feature, my router black-holes DNS queries to social media by default—which I can now disable temporarily by pushing the button on any one of several smart outlets around my house."

BrandoElFollito 1y ago

I must have missed something, but why not just using a zigbee button to trigger the 15 min of open internet?

guluarte 1y ago

I have found that the problem with smart home automation is that it suddenly stops working after an update, and fixing it becomes annoying, and when you have multiple triggers and routines you lose track of what activated what.

bmicraft 1y ago
That's not really true with home assistant. The two exceptions are devices which - require third party cloud services - use custom integrations (because they aren't natively supported by HA) Which is also why everybody and their dog recommend getting devices which support local control.

uwe72 1y ago

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