The Parasite
YouTube Shorts was stealing hours from my family. Blocking doesn't work — friction does.
Chrome extension that fights YouTube Shorts doom-scrolling with progressive lockdown mechanics.
The Problem
YouTube Shorts is engineered to be addictive. Infinite scroll, autoplay, dopamine hits every 30 seconds. Blocking it entirely doesn’t work — people just uninstall the blocker. You need something smarter.
The Solution
The Parasite doesn’t block Shorts — it makes you aware of the habit and adds friction progressively. Like a parasite that fights back against the host’s mindless behavior.
How It Works
- Shorts counter — Tracks every YouTube Short you watch
- Progressive lockdown — Every 10 Shorts triggers a lockout
- Escalating penalties — 30s → doubles each time → 100 Shorts = 4 hours locked
- No escape — Can’t just disable it mid-lockout
Design Philosophy
Privacy-first. Zero external dependencies. No server, no tracking, no account. All data stays on your machine. The extension is tiny — just TypeScript compiled with esbuild into a Manifest V3 Chrome Extension.
Why I Built This
YouTube Shorts was eating hours of my family’s time. Instead of blocking it (which gets circumvented), I built something that adds friction progressively — painful enough to break the habit, not painful enough to uninstall.