Show HN: I built a website blocker with a dynamic timeout that actually works

2 pointsby academic_84572hace 10 meses2 comments

Like many of us, I struggle with staying focused and avoiding distractions while browsing the web. I’ve tried all the website blockers out there – Blocksite, Freedom, you name it. Most of these tools failed for one of two reasons: they were too strict, so I ended up disabling them permanently, or they were too lenient, so I would quickly find a way around them.

To solve this for myself, I built DecayBlock, a browser extension based on the principle of adaptive friction. The mechanism is simple:

1. When you visit a site on your distraction list, a brief timeout is applied before the page loads.

2. This timeout accumulates with each visit, so repeated or habitual access becomes progressively more difficult.

3. Over time, the accumulated timeout decays with a configurable half-life when you stay away from those sites.

The goal isn't to enforce a ban (although you can permanently block websites if you choose), but to introduce a small, increasing cost to the act of procrastination. That brief pause is often enough to break the subconscious loop of opening a distracting tab, without ever fully locking you out. You can configure the timeout growth rate and decay half-life to match your own habits.

I've been using this system daily for several months, and it has been significantly more effective for me than any other tool.

DecayBlock is available now on both the Chrome and Firefox web extension stores. Currently it’s only on desktop but I’m hoping to release a mobile version at some point in the future.

Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/decayblock/lpljcnal...

Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/decayblock/

I'm here to answer any questions and would love any feedback!

2 comments

reifyhace 10 meses

I am confused

Are we saying that a human being cannot make a choice as to whether they want open a webpage they dont want to open.

I personally do not visit sites I do want to visit. There is no possibility that I might accidentally visit a site I do not want to visit.

I do add websites to U-block origin to block sites from search engines, I dont want to scroll through a hundred of pages of USA amazon, ebay, google, instagram, facebook, etc, links, when I am looking for a new pair of socks in my local store in the UK.

here I block startpage from showing amazon links in the search.

startpage.##.g:has(a[href="amazon.com"])

startpage.##a[href="amazon.com"]:upward(1)

This also works with google and other search engines.

If I want to block an entire web site, just add:

||www.amazon.com^

||www.google.com^

these site wont load at all, they will be blocked by U-block, even if you accidentally click on a link

jjevanoorschothace 10 meses

I love this idea! I'll give it a shot.