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The Three Hour Hackathon to Cure Facebook Addiction

45 points by FaisalAbid 14y ago

Just something my friend and I did this weekend. A stupid idea, but has the elements of what a real site could consist of. Payments, Datastorage, a pretty decent design.

misframer 14y ago
Just curious, is there a reason why you used Parse and not something like Cloudant?
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  Hey, good question. So we ended up using Parse really because thats the first one that came to mind. I didn't want to evaluate which is the better choice given our time. I knew about Parse through word of mouth but never used it, so we just decided to give it a try. But thanks for introducing me to Cloudant, seems very cool.
danso 14y ago
Doing it in 3 hours is cool, but not really sold on the concept. A better model would be to monitor rate of facebook activity (logins, posting, messaging). There's a difference between using Facebook as a service and being addicted to it...sometimes FB is the best way to reach people (who for some reason don't want to use email anymore). The addiction part comes when you are constantly posting and "liking" and responding, at random intervals throughout the day (i.e. when you have a spare moment with your phone).
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  Thats a great idea. We were originally going to let the user use Facebook authentication and do something there, but we didn't have time to implement all that. But going forward, if we actually want to keep the website up, then your idea would make sense to implement and see how fast we can do it. Thanks Danso for the advice.
  - jihip 14y ago
    Haha yeah, I think that's a great suggestion. I liked your original concept too, but I'm a little too hesitant to actually close the account..
    - FaisalAbid 14y ago
      Come'on just 30 days. The world wont change :)
parsnips 14y ago
Nicely done. But I feel I'd lose too many fivers.
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  Haha! Thats what were hoping for :). The people who've signed up, were going to start randomly checking their accounts from tonight so fingers crossed!
afarrell 14y ago
It seems like poor form to post publicly the names of people who are using your app because they admit they've lost a bit of control over some part of their lives. I'd make that optional. If it is optional already, make it obvious that it is optional so that you don't lose conversions on the front page.
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  You have a point I agree, we did have an option before but opted to take it off at the last minute. Reason for that was we thought, hey its a name, were not linking it to their page or anything. Lots of people have the same name. But I see where you are coming from. Time to make some changes :)
philfreo 14y ago
> We also obviously built this on Node.js, anything else and it would take to much time to configure or setup. really? node.js is the only way to deploy a web app quickly?
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  Ha, I knew someone would bring that up. No, obviously not. But my expertise are in ColdFusion, and now Node.js for the past year, so compared to ColdFusion Node.js is a breeze.
- Void_ 14y ago
  Yeah you should change that line it will upset a lot of readers. ;)
QuantumGuy 14y ago
Care to do one for social media in general(Google+,Youtube,Twitter,etc)?
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  LOL our next idea was Twitaddict.io. Sure we will do something next weekend!
forgot_password 14y ago
Heh, I found this amusing "We also obviously built this on Node.js, anything else and it would take to much time to configure or setup." Couldn't you just use a lightweight Ruby or Python framework (e.g. Sinatra)? And wouldn't any simple data-store do? I'm surprised you even considered MongoDB...
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  For me, when doing Node development, usually my first instinct is to go for MongoDB. I guess my post conveys that thought. But sure we could have used any simple data store, and we did (parse). As for Node.js, as I previously said in another comment, I am a former ColdFusion developer, so again I bring many biases from that platform and found Node.js to be super simple to use. I'm not a Ruby or Python developer but I'm sure it would have taken someone with those skill sets equally as fast.
noloqy 14y ago
The noble thing would be to donate the money to charity. It doesn't feel right to monetize on people's addictions, even if they themselves make the conscious decision to accept the challenge.
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  Yup and thats what we plan to do. Were going to donate the money to the center for mental health and addiction in Toronto. We didn't write it on the website because we felt it would be too cheesy.
  - orthecreedence 14y ago
    I suggest you make a note of it somewhere. I went on the site and was thinking "Where is my money going? If they just pocket it then I'm getting swindled." It may be cheesy, but I think it's worth mentioning that you aren't pocketing it =].
    - FaisalAbid 14y ago
      I guess you have a point. Will make the change. EDIT: Change made.
motters 14y ago
I like how they talk about it as if not using Facebook is some extraordinary privation. I havn't used it for two years, and I officially closed my account a year ago.
- pessimizer 14y ago
  I closed my account over two years ago, and it really can be a hardship for some people. If you're a non-smoker, it's hard to understand how being without a cigarette can be an extraordinary privation.
  - pavel_lishin 14y ago
    It's not like going without cigarettes, but it's like refusing to have a cellphone or voicemail. Social events? Nearly every event I attend, I'm invited to via Facebook. Family announcements? If there's a new baby in the family, I know about it because of Facebook. (My wife's third cousins twice removed will not call her to let her know, nor would I expect them to.)
    - pessimizer 14y ago
      I think it's more like going without cigarettes, in that it's an enormous amount of useless crap information, some of it downright deceptive (i.e. applications posting as your friends), randomly sprinkled with tidbits that are slightly interesting, somewhat important, and rarely, downright vital. You have no idea what's going to come out the next time you hit F5, so you keep hitting it over and over again, although the vast majority of the output is garbage. It's a trained addiction, rather than a targeted means of communication like cellphones, voicemails, or emails. Caring that your wife's third cousins twice removed have had a baby, and feeling like you have to know about it right after it has happened - that's a symptom of facebook, not a problem that facebook is solving.
bubbleRefuge 14y ago
http://www.jetstrap.com/ http://www.jetstrap.com/ Can you mock widgets using this tool or is it mostly pages,layouts, navs?
- yesimahuman 14y ago
  (Jetstrap creator here) - it's pages, layouts, and navs all with Bootstrap. Think being able to drag and drop bootstrap components to a page and export the HTML code.
yesimahuman 14y ago
Congrats on getting this out there and getting on the front page :) I'm flattered you picked Jetstrap.
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  Thanks! Jetstrap was really core to this. We just dragged and dropped a few things, and boom we have a decent looking website. The only HTML I did touch on this website was when adding handlebars to do the dynamic stuff. Jetstrap just made everything so easy.
dreeves 14y ago
Yikes, on an hour-adjusted basis you've shown us up brutally. We've put over 10,000 person-hours into http://Beeminder.com http://Beeminder.com But, especially now that we have RescueTime integration, I think our solution is better! Here's what RescueTime generously said about using Beeminder + RescueTime for this kind of thing: http://blog.rescuetime.com/2012/11/27/give-your-productivity-goals-some-teeth-with-beeminder/ http://blog.rescuetime.com/2012/11/27/give-your-productivity...
Void_ 14y ago
- Change your password to something random, store it in 1Password - Don't remember password in your web browser - Log out, only login if you really need to - Delete mobile app. Being bored on the bus is a great excuse to check Facebook. Also, you won't have to face their idiotic ads - Keep the Messenger app, enable push notifications. "I have to read my messages" won't be an excuse anymore, because you would have gotten a notification. - Email people at their.name@facebook.com. You will get the response back in your inbox. (If you're using Mountain Lion, you can set up contacts sync and have Facebook emails of your friends in your Contacts.) - If you need IM, use Jabber protocol. Log in with your.name@chat.facebook.com - If you're a member of some important groups, create an account with no friends with only purpose to be member of those groups I have this acquaintance that only uses Facebook for messaging. She never posts anything, never comments, she is just somehow resilient to its charm. I admire her endlessly for that, and I wish I had never succumbed to that notifications icon. Good luck.
- stephengillie 14y ago
  Being bored on the bus is a great excuse to check Facebook. If you don't waste time checking FB when you're bored on the bus, you'll waste time checking twitter, news, pinstagram, etc. Instead, plan to use that time by reading something you enjoy. If it's FB then why is that bad? It's moot from a productivity perspective.
- activepeanut 14y ago
  If you need IM, use Jabber protocol. Log in with your.name@chat.facebook.com Does this work? I've never been able to login to facebook chat using jabber.
sksksk 14y ago
Cool idea, I'd up the stakes, and say that if you complete the challenge, you get a share of the money from the people who didn't complete the challenge
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  LOL hilarious. Well right now we want the money to go to charity, but maybe for our next weekend hack Twitaddict.io
MitziMoto 14y ago
This is really awesome, and thanks for introducing me to Postmark, it looks like exactly what I need for my current project.
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  No problem! PostMark is really slick, great interface too.
- ceejayoz 14y ago
  Take a peek at Mandrill and SendGrid, too.
wereHamster 14y ago
You use stripe, so your market is US-only. You're missing out a huge chunk of Facebook's user base.
- FaisalAbid 14y ago
  I think stripe accepts credit cards from around the world?
pessimizer 14y ago
>when someone loses a pledge, we will be donating it to http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/Pages/home.aspx http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/Pages/home.aspx Center for mental health and addiction. Give me a choice of charities (or open source projects) that my money goes to (or is shared amongst), and take a cut for yourself. I'll be into you for thousands in no time.
ntide 14y ago
You want to cure Facebook addiction? Then delete your Facebook! I did it a year ago and I've never looked back.

45 points by FaisalAbid 14y ago

Just something my friend and I did this weekend. A stupid idea, but has the elements of what a real site could consist of. Payments, Datastorage, a pretty decent design.

misframer 14y ago

Just curious, is there a reason why you used Parse and not something like Cloudant?

FaisalAbid 14y ago
Hey, good question. So we ended up using Parse really because thats the first one that came to mind. I didn't want to evaluate which is the better choice given our time. I knew about Parse through word of mouth but never used it, so we just decided to give it a try. But thanks for introducing me to Cloudant, seems very cool.

danso 14y ago

Doing it in 3 hours is cool, but not really sold on the concept. A better model would be to monitor rate of facebook activity (logins, posting, messaging). There's a difference between using Facebook as a service and being addicted to it...sometimes FB is the best way to reach people (who for some reason don't want to use email anymore). The addiction part comes when you are constantly posting and "liking" and responding, at random intervals throughout the day (i.e. when you have a spare moment with your phone).

FaisalAbid 14y ago
Thats a great idea. We were originally going to let the user use Facebook authentication and do something there, but we didn't have time to implement all that. But going forward, if we actually want to keep the website up, then your idea would make sense to implement and see how fast we can do it. Thanks Danso for the advice.
- jihip 14y ago
  Haha yeah, I think that's a great suggestion. I liked your original concept too, but I'm a little too hesitant to actually close the account..
  - FaisalAbid 14y ago
    Come'on just 30 days. The world wont change :)

parsnips 14y ago

Nicely done. But I feel I'd lose too many fivers.

FaisalAbid 14y ago
Haha! Thats what were hoping for :). The people who've signed up, were going to start randomly checking their accounts from tonight so fingers crossed!

afarrell 14y ago

It seems like poor form to post publicly the names of people who are using your app because they admit they've lost a bit of control over some part of their lives. I'd make that optional. If it is optional already, make it obvious that it is optional so that you don't lose conversions on the front page.

FaisalAbid 14y ago
You have a point I agree, we did have an option before but opted to take it off at the last minute. Reason for that was we thought, hey its a name, were not linking it to their page or anything. Lots of people have the same name. But I see where you are coming from. Time to make some changes :)

philfreo 14y ago

> We also obviously built this on Node.js, anything else and it would take to much time to configure or setup. really? node.js is the only way to deploy a web app quickly?

FaisalAbid 14y ago
Ha, I knew someone would bring that up. No, obviously not. But my expertise are in ColdFusion, and now Node.js for the past year, so compared to ColdFusion Node.js is a breeze.
Void_ 14y ago
Yeah you should change that line it will upset a lot of readers. ;)

QuantumGuy 14y ago

Care to do one for social media in general(Google+,Youtube,Twitter,etc)?

FaisalAbid 14y ago
LOL our next idea was Twitaddict.io. Sure we will do something next weekend!

forgot_password 14y ago

Heh, I found this amusing "We also obviously built this on Node.js, anything else and it would take to much time to configure or setup." Couldn't you just use a lightweight Ruby or Python framework (e.g. Sinatra)? And wouldn't any simple data-store do? I'm surprised you even considered MongoDB...

FaisalAbid 14y ago
For me, when doing Node development, usually my first instinct is to go for MongoDB. I guess my post conveys that thought. But sure we could have used any simple data store, and we did (parse). As for Node.js, as I previously said in another comment, I am a former ColdFusion developer, so again I bring many biases from that platform and found Node.js to be super simple to use. I'm not a Ruby or Python developer but I'm sure it would have taken someone with those skill sets equally as fast.

noloqy 14y ago

The noble thing would be to donate the money to charity. It doesn't feel right to monetize on people's addictions, even if they themselves make the conscious decision to accept the challenge.

FaisalAbid 14y ago
Yup and thats what we plan to do. Were going to donate the money to the center for mental health and addiction in Toronto. We didn't write it on the website because we felt it would be too cheesy.
- orthecreedence 14y ago
  I suggest you make a note of it somewhere. I went on the site and was thinking "Where is my money going? If they just pocket it then I'm getting swindled." It may be cheesy, but I think it's worth mentioning that you aren't pocketing it =].
  - FaisalAbid 14y ago
    I guess you have a point. Will make the change. EDIT: Change made.

motters 14y ago

I like how they talk about it as if not using Facebook is some extraordinary privation. I havn't used it for two years, and I officially closed my account a year ago.

pessimizer 14y ago
I closed my account over two years ago, and it really can be a hardship for some people. If you're a non-smoker, it's hard to understand how being without a cigarette can be an extraordinary privation.
- pavel_lishin 14y ago
  It's not like going without cigarettes, but it's like refusing to have a cellphone or voicemail. Social events? Nearly every event I attend, I'm invited to via Facebook. Family announcements? If there's a new baby in the family, I know about it because of Facebook. (My wife's third cousins twice removed will not call her to let her know, nor would I expect them to.)
  - pessimizer 14y ago
    I think it's more like going without cigarettes, in that it's an enormous amount of useless crap information, some of it downright deceptive (i.e. applications posting as your friends), randomly sprinkled with tidbits that are slightly interesting, somewhat important, and rarely, downright vital. You have no idea what's going to come out the next time you hit F5, so you keep hitting it over and over again, although the vast majority of the output is garbage. It's a trained addiction, rather than a targeted means of communication like cellphones, voicemails, or emails. Caring that your wife's third cousins twice removed have had a baby, and feeling like you have to know about it right after it has happened - that's a symptom of facebook, not a problem that facebook is solving.

bubbleRefuge 14y ago

http://www.jetstrap.com/ http://www.jetstrap.com/ Can you mock widgets using this tool or is it mostly pages,layouts, navs?

yesimahuman 14y ago
(Jetstrap creator here) - it's pages, layouts, and navs all with Bootstrap. Think being able to drag and drop bootstrap components to a page and export the HTML code.

yesimahuman 14y ago

Congrats on getting this out there and getting on the front page :) I'm flattered you picked Jetstrap.

FaisalAbid 14y ago
Thanks! Jetstrap was really core to this. We just dragged and dropped a few things, and boom we have a decent looking website. The only HTML I did touch on this website was when adding handlebars to do the dynamic stuff. Jetstrap just made everything so easy.

dreeves 14y ago

Yikes, on an hour-adjusted basis you've shown us up brutally. We've put over 10,000 person-hours into http://Beeminder.com http://Beeminder.com But, especially now that we have RescueTime integration, I think our solution is better! Here's what RescueTime generously said about using Beeminder + RescueTime for this kind of thing: http://blog.rescuetime.com/2012/11/27/give-your-productivity-goals-some-teeth-with-beeminder/ http://blog.rescuetime.com/2012/11/27/give-your-productivity...

Void_ 14y ago

- Change your password to something random, store it in 1Password - Don't remember password in your web browser - Log out, only login if you really need to - Delete mobile app. Being bored on the bus is a great excuse to check Facebook. Also, you won't have to face their idiotic ads - Keep the Messenger app, enable push notifications. "I have to read my messages" won't be an excuse anymore, because you would have gotten a notification. - Email people at their.name@facebook.com. You will get the response back in your inbox. (If you're using Mountain Lion, you can set up contacts sync and have Facebook emails of your friends in your Contacts.) - If you need IM, use Jabber protocol. Log in with your.name@chat.facebook.com - If you're a member of some important groups, create an account with no friends with only purpose to be member of those groups I have this acquaintance that only uses Facebook for messaging. She never posts anything, never comments, she is just somehow resilient to its charm. I admire her endlessly for that, and I wish I had never succumbed to that notifications icon. Good luck.

stephengillie 14y ago
Being bored on the bus is a great excuse to check Facebook. If you don't waste time checking FB when you're bored on the bus, you'll waste time checking twitter, news, pinstagram, etc. Instead, plan to use that time by reading something you enjoy. If it's FB then why is that bad? It's moot from a productivity perspective.
activepeanut 14y ago
If you need IM, use Jabber protocol. Log in with your.name@chat.facebook.com Does this work? I've never been able to login to facebook chat using jabber.

sksksk 14y ago

Cool idea, I'd up the stakes, and say that if you complete the challenge, you get a share of the money from the people who didn't complete the challenge

FaisalAbid 14y ago
LOL hilarious. Well right now we want the money to go to charity, but maybe for our next weekend hack Twitaddict.io

MitziMoto 14y ago

This is really awesome, and thanks for introducing me to Postmark, it looks like exactly what I need for my current project.

FaisalAbid 14y ago
No problem! PostMark is really slick, great interface too.
ceejayoz 14y ago
Take a peek at Mandrill and SendGrid, too.

wereHamster 14y ago

You use stripe, so your market is US-only. You're missing out a huge chunk of Facebook's user base.

FaisalAbid 14y ago
I think stripe accepts credit cards from around the world?

pessimizer 14y ago

>when someone loses a pledge, we will be donating it to http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/Pages/home.aspx http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/Pages/home.aspx Center for mental health and addiction. Give me a choice of charities (or open source projects) that my money goes to (or is shared amongst), and take a cut for yourself. I'll be into you for thousands in no time.

ntide 14y ago

You want to cure Facebook addiction? Then delete your Facebook! I did it a year ago and I've never looked back.