Optimistically targeting end of this year, drop your email here and you'll be the first to know when we're live :) https://www.getclearspace.com/#newsletter
349 karma · joined October 29, 2015
We built a chrome extension that is available for premium users to that eliminates the distracting social feeds on sites, but keeps the useful parts of them. So you can still search and reply to messages on Linkedin, for example, you just won't see the feed. Our main focus is the iPhone app right now, so we haven't been loud about it as a part of our core offering but you may find it useful. Give it a shot here and see if it's helpful. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clearspace/geebjpi...
more specifically: 1. we hit you with friction every time you enter an app you want to moderate your engagement with. with screen time limits, as long as you're under your budget, you'll get through no problem. in time this means you learn that early in the day is the best time to use social apps. we think this is a second order failure.
2. we let you stack your progress over time with your streak, which seems to be a far better behavioral motivator for staying in line with your goals.
3. we report usage for the apps you actually care about moderating. (I basically ignore my native screen time report, because "being up 25% this week" might mean I went on a long drive and was using maps to navigate, or that I doom-scrolled in bed until 3am.) we try to report data you actually care about (there's a ton we still need to do on this front, but we're getting better at it)
our real hope is actually that tools like clearspace tip the balance of power to individuals. if snapchat or IG are taking a real hit, they'll finally be incentivized to minimize “regrettable time” spent on their apps. that's probably an easier task than doing a backdoor deal with a company who makes its money but protecting its users from regrettable screen time.
that way I'll be able to see your user id and track down the issue.
As such, we think a recurring subscription is the best way to align our interests with our users and make sure we're building the right thing over time. When customers are consistently paying, if we don't consistently deliver the value they're paying for, they leave. It means we're in a tighter feedback loop with users about what's working and what isn't.
Basically we think it's mission-critical that the technology protecting your attention to be as well built as the tech trying to exploit it, and our best guess at the moment is recurring subscription is the best way to accomplish that.
every configuration of screen time limits we've tried has ended with us learning the quickest behavioral path to more scrolling (ie: quickly tapping "5 more minutes", entering passcode, etc).
We found Freedom’s VPN solution to be great for completely blocking out distractions when you don’t need any internet and want to focus in on certain tasks. That can be helpful for mobile too, but we've found the day-in-day-out experience of injecting "intentionality" just-in-time to be more effective for us than pre-scheduled “allowed” and “not allowed” blocks.
It also lets us plan for the long term since we have a decent idea of what our revenue will be. Particularly in this space that's going to be important - we'll have to continuously evolve to changes in the platforms we're operating on and the apps themselves that we're helping restrict. Basically we think it's mission-critical that the technology protecting your attention to be as well built as the tech trying to exploit it, and we see this as * probably * the most effective way to accomplish that.
basically you sign up, we mail you a dumb phone with instructions for putting your smartphone sim card in, and you mail us back your smart phone. after 30 days we send it back with some swag saying you did it and some instructions for restarting your digital life with good habits post-detox.
would love to get around to it, but channeling steve jobs for now - "focus means saying no to a hundred other good ideas"
- we can pull you out of an app at the end of the time you intended to use it for
- we support restricting websites
- we let you accumulate your progress over time via a streak, which is quite motivating (at least for me personally)
- one tap to set up an app with us (rather than creating an automation in your shortcuts app)
- we can pull you out of an app at the end of the time you intended to use it for
- we support restricting websites
- we let you accumulate your progress over time via a streak, which is quite motivating (at least for me personally)
- we have a social accountability layer, via "teammates" who receive updates when you exceed your budgets or remove tracking for an app
fingers crossed for WWDC23
- social accountability via teammates
- data reporting and streaks - we think displaying habit-change progress should have a cumulative and compounding effect. streaks are proving particularly effective for our users in this regard
- website support for non-safari browsers
- more complex scheduling - Screenzen will let you specify 1-3pm on MWF, for example, but not 1-3pm and 9-11pm MWF)
- much, much more to come. we're building for the cross platform future
To do it, open clearspace and tap one of the apps you've already set up. Then click the "websites" section. You'll be able to associate domains there, so whenever that app is unlocked, those websites will be as well. Otherwise they're restricted.
Hope this helps! Literally just rolling out website support so need to update the messaging in a few places, thanks for flagging.
1. render that single tweet on the shield so you don't even have to enter the app to see it
or
2. let you passively stack up all the links you get sent socially, like a reading list, so you can work through them all at once.
will keep you posted on which way we go but definitely going to address this because it's a pain-point of mine as well.
They may implement some of the same features but will always have to do some internal calculus on providing a smooth user experience and mitigating over-engagement. Our main goal is to equip people to reclaim control over their relationship with their devices - we think this is * probably * best solved by a startup
Would you be interested in collabing?