Dopanope is a Chrome extension that stops you wasting time on the internet, by pitting your impatience against your craving for a dopamine hit. Change the way you browse with Dopanope's psychology-inspired tweaks.
Heya Product Hunt! 👋
Dopanope is a Chrome extension that helps you stop wasting time on the internet.
It works by decoupling the action of going to your favourite time-wasting website (Reddit, Twitter, Facebook?) from the neurological reward (the dopamine hit you get when you check social media), by putting a randomized wait time in between. Basically, it puts your impatience to good use. 👀
I originally built Dopanope for myself, because I was spending unconscionable amounts of time on Reddit and Twitter. The worst part is, I was not even enjoying it, or consciously taking a break. I was joylessly doom-scrolling, mostly, to avoid doing something else I should have been doing. 🤦♀️
Dopanope was really useful to me, so I thought of shipping it as a product!
Here's how it works 🔎:
1. When you try to access a distracting site, it makes you wait for a random period of time.
2. Immediately, you start getting impatient. And no, you can't switch tabs -- if you do, Dopanope pauses the countdown till you return to the tab.
3. Most times, your impatience will win! If you still wait for the countdown and then access Twitter, then it's a conscious choice.
How's Dopanope different from the other blocker extensions out there? 💁♀️
There are tons of blocker extensions, and if you're reading this, you've probably tried several! This is how Dopanope is different:
✅ It forces you to stare at the most boring screen in the world -- because if you switch tabs, the countdown is paused.
✅ It randomizes the time delay, taking advantage of the Endowed Progress effect.
✅ Doesn't completely block the site -- because every time an extension tried to do this, I'd just self-sabotage by taking it as a personal challenge and try to get around the extension's block. 🫣
So Dopanope combines several tiny psychological tricks, to make a simple but effective solution for my (and hopefully your!) browsing problem.
Please try it and let me know what worked -- and what didn't! 🤓
@manasvinik Been using this for a couple of weeks now, and I must say, this has made a big impact. My mindless browsing has definitely reduced by orders of magnitude.
Super smart solution. Something I wonder about is if there is an additional part to this to make it a healthy practice. The first part is decoupling it and delaying the action. But, sometimes this can make you crave it more now that you can't use it. So, how might you be able to positively change someone's current mood or shift their relationship in relation to the banned platform?
@david_glass Interesting question! I agree the brain may crave it more now that you can't use it. That's why we didn't make it block the website altogether -- this way, there's really nothing stopping you from accessing the site except your own impatience (which is probably more than your craving!)
And as for shifting your relationship, I think this can also happen (over time) as you stop associating your favourite time-wasting website with the feeling of the dopamine hit!
Thanks for the questions David!
There seems to be a small bug, as in if I go to the website I want to block, and quickly do back to a different tab, it blocks the other tab rather than the website.
I'll give it a try. I've been using "10-Seconds Focus" that has a similar feature set (you need to click & hold a button for 10-seconds before accessing a website). It's been effective but sometimes, it either over blocks me or 10 seconds is not enough/too predictable, so maybe Dopanope is better?
@clouedoc Dopanope's wait time is longer (30-50 secs) and also randomised. Plus the philosophy of the extension is that you don't do anything actively like hold a button, or click -- because these actions, which feel like you're making progress, are likely to make you more willing to wait out the countdown. That's the main difference! 😀 Do try and let me know how it works for you!
I love this!
Changing your environment and creating systems is much more effective than discipline.
How long have you been using it for and what has been your experience?
@justus_mulli I built this originally to work for myself, so I've been using it for almost a month now! Most times, I'm finding my impatience is stronger than my craving haha! 😃
Interesting! Always fascinating to consider how to manage time. What have you learned from say a user sharing how they are using it, such that you learned an insight from a person’s *actions*, that might not have shown up if just looking at what people would *think* they would want/
Hi @manasvinik, I tried to install Dopanope on my Chrome but a popup message says that Google Secure Navigation doesn't trust in that extension. Do you know why?
@goldseb Oh, very strange Sebas. I think it might be a factor of newness to the Chrome store?
According to this article on The Verge (https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/...) it says "In order to be trusted, extensions need to come from a developer that has followed Google’s Developer Program Policies and has been around for “at least a few months.” That means brand-new developers won’t immediately be considered trusted by Google....Not being “trusted” doesn’t mean Google thinks an extension is dangerous, but that its developer might be newer to the store" Since this is a new extension, it's possible it's throwing up that message? Is that what you are seeing?
It's definitely passed the review process on the Google chrome store! 👍
Happy to talk more - perhaps you can send me a quick DM on twitter? (@manasvinik) And I'd love to try and help out!
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