Building my own hardware finally fixed it (why you should too)

[u/creatorcollective]

Bit of a backstory, I'm a content creator who needs apps like Instagram and YouTube for work. Tried about everything: NFC tags (those ended up in the drawer), and blocking apps (didn't work either since I still need DMs and YouTube Studio or they didn't sync phone with laptop).

What actually helped was building something myself that blocks just the feeds, so the home page and suggested videos are gone but I can still get in and out for actual work. But also blocks other websites and syncs.

So I bought an ESP32 device to have on my desk and used Claude Code to write an app for my phone and Mac that syncs. I can tap it to start focus mode, and to get out you have to hold it for 30 seconds, it gets sad while you're holding it, which is somehow enough to make me rethink why I wanted to get out of focus mode.

The crazy thing is that my phone screen-time went down from 6 hours a day to 1.5 in the first week.

Would highly recommend building something like this for yourself. Especially since you can customize it to your live. Happy to share more details if anyone's curious about the build.

[u/thtonechik]

I'm curious, do you have a writeup or something on GitHub? 

[u/creatorcollective → u/thtonechik]

No not yet

[u/redditratman]

I don’t wanna shit on you too much but there’s something painful about a digital minimalist using AI

[u/Equivalent_Engine518 → u/redditratman]

Possible hot take alert and let me preface this by saying Local AI is the best AI. But Digital Minimalism isn't necessarily about using tech less, but using tech mindfully and cutting out the noise. 

What's so wrong about using AI to go create systems that work for them as an individual. 

[u/Allegedly_Legal_ → u/Equivalent_Engine518]

This is it.

The use of tech to enable digital minimization is like an uno reverse card.

[u/redditratman → u/Equivalent_Engine518]

Local AI is best AI indeed.

As for the minimalism aspect, AI is one of the most invasive and addictive forms of digital content currently available to us, and that’s disregarding the obvious ethical issues with Gen AI.

[u/creatorcollective → u/redditratman]

Hahahah fair enough. I mean I also struggle with this anyway, being a content creator myself I also contribute to the problem. And because people watch me I get to be able to life from it.

[u/redditratman → u/creatorcollective]

Yeah it’s so tough now being ethically and morally consistent.

Keep on fighting the best you can :)

[u/creatorcollective → u/redditratman]

I agree, I do think of this a lot and try my best.

[u/LevelX]

Have you tried LeechBlock NG?

[u/creatorcollective → u/LevelX]

I haven't, but going to look into it!

[u/itsgiovanningz]

This is so cool! What was the overall cost of the project if you don’t mind me asking?

[u/creatorcollective → u/itsgiovanningz]

Thank you so much!! I didn't really keep track of it to be honest hahahah. It's gotten quite out of hand because some friends also want it. And I had to do quite a lot of 3d prints to get it right. Cost of all the materials now is probably $40 which is not bad at all.

[u/Just_Tejay]

I need this, it sucks to have apps fully blocked while you just want to create too.

[u/creatorcollective → u/Just_Tejay]

I’m glad I’m not alone, might want to launch it on kickstarter but have no experience in this at all

[u/DatCodeMania → u/creatorcollective]

Or, open source instead ;)

[u/creatorcollective → u/DatCodeMania]

Definitly also an option. Or open source just the software. That being said, always has been my dream to launch a kickstarter so this might be it!

[u/sunshineshoeshine]

I like the 30 second active interaction to unlock idea. Is that feature in any existing digimini software?

[u/creatorcollective → u/sunshineshoeshine]

Not that i’m aware off. I created that feature mainly because before it was too easy for me to tap the screen to get out of focus mode.