Slashdot Mirror
New Keyboard Accessory Shocks Users When They Try To Go On Facebook
cartechboy writes "Two Ph.D. students from MIT have created a keyboard accessory, the Pavlov Poke, that shocks you every time you go onto Facebook. The project comes as a result of the students finding the waste over 50 hours a week combined on the social network (instead of working on their dissertations) So the pair created an Arduino-based keyboard hand-rest that shocks computer users who spend too much time checking the social network. The hack is 'intended to generate discussion' — not actually turn into a business." Inventor Robert Morris describes it as "something of a joke," but I'm sure there's a market out there.
The real market is for sado-masochists that are addicted to farmville (or is that redundant). If you just want to stop wasting your life, give up or moderate your FB (and slashdot) usage.
And I need a second one for my sister!
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
the rivalry continues! so harvard, how do you respond?!
Seriously, I only see this sort of thing being useful for a) folks who want to discipline themselves or b) sadistic overlords who think users need to not just be blocked, but punished for succumbing to their weaknesses.
In short, the target market is your average Megachurch.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
I'll just ignore the fact that everyone has smartphones and tablets, which all have FB on them, shall I?
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Thank Heavens this is for Facebook. I'd hate to see the burn marks on my hands from my Slashdot habit.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
This could be extended to sites like Slashdot. And be used as a sort of aversion therapy for people who read posts by timo....[Ouch!]
Have gnu, will travel.
...penis stuck to electrocuting device.
Silence is a state of mime.
I realised I was wasting far too much time on Facebook a couple of years ago, along with other forums, and found it hard not to browse there - often, I found that I was just typing the URL without thinking about it, and loading the site without giving it any thought. A friend recommended BlockSite to me, and, whilst I felt a bit stupid at needing this crutch, I took it, and managed to get things back under control.
Just add in the URLs of the site in question, and it blocks access to the pages (and elements at those URLs from loading as part of other pages). Editing a hosts file is probably just as suitable, but this worked for me...
It shocks me whenever I waste time on Slashdaaarrrrgh
Let them fail in school. If they can't control their addictions to Facebook, what kind of focus will they have once they hit the job market. Like a friend of mine said the other day: "Darwinism is dead". If they are too dumb to realize what they are doing, let them fail. Self elimination.
A while back I realized that the most social sites are actually Pavlovian driven drool buckets where you get a "treat" for every like, or comment or whatever.. so this little device is somewhat like putting a humidifier and a dehumidifier in the same room and letting them fight it out..
Socializing via Facebook is probably a lot faster and more efficient than socializing in the numerous ways that past graduate students used. So I'm not sure that this actually achieves what aims to achieve.