Making the internet boring
Short summary
A developer explains how he reduced compulsive scrolling not through willpower but by systematically adding friction to distracting websites—grayscale mode, browser-only access, custom scripts that strip away appealing UI—accepting that addiction requires environmental design, not discipline.
- Willpower fails repeatedly; the author overrode his own website blocker for 444 minutes in a single session, forcing him to abandon self-discipline as a strategy.
- Grayscale mode on his phone for two years proved more effective than app blockers because it kills appeal rather than just restricting access—there's no override button for "this looks boring."
- He built a layered system combining no native social apps, LeechBlock NG, a custom Tampermonkey script that grayscales and blurs images on distracting sites, and deliberately clicking "Not interested" on feeds—each layer makes the default path slightly more annoying rather than impossible.
Full summary
The author discovered that willpower alone doesn't work—he once overrode his own website blocker for 444 minutes just to scroll mindlessly. Rather than fighting his brain's cravings, he switched tactics entirely and started building friction instead. The problem wasn't obvious apps like Instagram or TikTok; it was YouTube and Reddit, the platforms he actually needed for work and genuine value. He couldn't quit them, so he decided to make them boring instead.
His first moves were practical: he deleted native apps for social media and forced himself to use browsers, which are clunkier. YouTube on mobile browser is genuinely worse, so that helped. For his computer, he used LeechBlock NG to block YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, and X entirely, with a 5-minute override option. But he kept clicking override. The real breakthrough came from grayscale mode on his phone—not a restriction that can be overridden, but a removal of visual appeal. He's used grayscale for over two years. He also clicks "Not interested" aggressively on feeds to make them progressively duller, and he uses Olauncher, a minimal launcher that strips distractions.
When he switched to a computer that he couldn't easily put in grayscale, he wrote his own Tampermonkey userscript to deliberately wreck the UI of social sites. The script kills rounded corners, removes shadows, blurs images and videos, applies grayscale, and makes everything look like a brutalist black-and-white photocopy. The point wasn't to make these sites impossible to access—he could bypass any layer if he really wanted—but to make the default path annoying enough that he often doesn't bother. Each friction layer costs a little effort. Most of the time, when YouTube loads looking like a decrepit photocopy, he loses interest anyway. Willpower cracks, but friction holds.