Here's a breakdown of the major themes discussed in the Hacker News comments, along with supporting quotes:
The "Smart Plug as a Physical Switch" Concept
The initial post highlights the use of a smart plug as a physical switch to trigger scripts, and the comments explore various applications and implications of this idea.
- Novelty and Practicality: "I've never thought of using a smart plug button as a switch to run a script - pretty neat idea I might use for some other projects." (bertwagner)
- Router Integration: "I can imagine that could be nice feature on a router. Trigger fw blocking automatically but to unlock you have to go to the router and press physical button. I guess I can implement that on raspberry pi." (ozim)
- Explanation for the uninitiated: "The script on the computer checks to see if the smart plug is on or off. Depending on the state, the script blocks or unblocks the websites. The smart plug is just acting as a button that is connected to your WiFi." (Jackim)
Friction as a Tool for Behavioral Modification
A central theme revolves around the concept of introducing "friction" to disrupt habitual behaviors, with varying opinions on its effectiveness.
- Tiny Nudges Can Be Enough: "For a lot of behavioral things, tiny nudges are just enough friction." (sokoloff)
- Circuit Breaker Effect: "The reason why social media and similar websites now have infinite scroll is because the next page button provided you with a circuit breaker to stop and reconsider if you actually wanted to continue or if you were just mindlessly scrolling." (quitit)
- Making Websites Load Slowly: "If you're looking to create genuine change, then making those websites load slowly is even more effective than going cold turkey (because it minimises the dopamingeric effects.)" (quitit)
- Walking to Get a Treat: "I keep less-healthy food treats in a cupboard in my garage, because the friction of walking out to get them is enough to reduce my usage to an acceptable level." (lcuff)
- The Frustration Factor: "The friction makes me want to disable the measure before it makes me want to stop the activity. And unlike paging in forums, I can disable it. That’s why these measures never work for me." (layer8)
- Opening a Terminal: "If you're getting to the point where you have to open a terminal, elevate to root and edit your hosts file, that's beyond a bored impulse. You know exactly what you're doing and you can stop yourself. That tiny bit of friction is enough to defeat the ingrained impulses and make you think." (amiga-workbench)
- One-Sec App:"It basically forces you to do a little breathing exercise before you can visit the site that you have on its block list. It has been life changing. It adds enough friction for me to stop any impulsive visits but also is not so annoying that I would completely disable it in a weak moment." (cardanome)
Varying Effectiveness of Friction and Self-Control
The discussion highlights that the effectiveness of friction and self-control mechanisms is highly individual and dependent on factors like impulsivity and underlying conditions.
- Individual Differences: "AstroBen: Having tried that many times, it just doesn't work for me Maybe others have better luck"
- It Doesn't Work For Everyone: "I don't know how people can keep saying this when I have first hand experience with it not being enough" (AstroBen)
- Continuum of Impulsivity: "People exist on a wide continuum of impulsivity. I have ADHD and nothing short of truly unbypassable restrictions on all my devices are enough." (Aerbil313)
- ADHD Consideration: "One Sec was developed by someone with ADHD, I think and it definitely shows." (cardanome)
Alternatives to and Implementations of Website Blocking
Users share various specific methods they use to block or limit access to distracting websites, ranging from simple techniques to more complex configurations.
- /etc/hosts Modification: "I hope you have more luck than me with sticking with the switch instead of just editing /etc/hosts." (bertwagner)
- DNS-Based Blocking: "My anti-distraction setup uses multiple dnsmasqs, one of them has a long list of blocked (ad-)domains, and DNS tags...So the devices with the 'black' tag have a different DNS server...and has DNS-level ad-blocking (convenient for phones) and can't access reddit, Twitter, etc." (netsharc)
- uBlock Origin Filters: "At top of my uBlock Origin 'My Filters' tab, I have a list of the Web sites...which I comment (by prefixing each line with
!) and un-comment, as needed...This is sufficient to defeat whatever muscle-memory you have to visit the site." (neilv) - Incognito Mode Limitation: "Something that works well is to block websites like YouTube or Instagram in regular browsing but keep them unblocked in Incognito mode. This forces you to sign in every time you want to use these sites." (65)
- Mullvad VPN Blocking: "Mullvad VPN's client blocks that stuff as well. That filter prevents me from unknowingly clicking a link here on HN and getting twitter on me." (karaterobot)
Addressing Root Causes and Mindfulness
Some comments emphasize the importance of addressing the underlying reasons for seeking distractions and cultivating self-awareness, rather than relying solely on external blocking mechanisms.
- Finding the Root Cause: "Instead of adding friction, part of the work of oneself is about finding the root cause of why we go into those places and understand up to which point spending too much time on those is not only detrimental to society but to me personally." (shinycode)
- Realizing Time is a Limited Resource: "Idk, maybe after +20y of wasting time online I got that it’s a ressource I won’t ever get back and I resent wasting it too much now, which gets me off using all the links he blocked without efforts." (shinycode)
- Kindness towards Self: "It is important to understand that not every solution will work for everyone. There can be many reasons why you struggle with social media addictions. Ultimately those corporations are spending millions and employ state of the art psychological manipulation tactics to keep you engaged so it is important to be kind to yourself. Don't give up. You might find something that works for you." (cardanome)
Novel ideas for using the switch.
- Connecting Brainrot To Exercise. "Can switches like this also detect usage, like current flowing? It might be a fun and healthy twist to plug a walking pad/treadmill into a smart plug and then either make it so brainrot websites are only viewable when the treadmill is being used or make a small app that tracks the time the treadmill is used and then only allows that amount of time on brainrot websites." (matt_s)
- Finding things. "I rigged up one of these so my wife could go push the button and her phone would play an alarm sound so she could find it when it goes missing. Was a good hack for a bit, but then the children figured out they could actually use the same button to find their mom, since the she was usually colocated with the phone!" (montroser)