The feed runs on variable rewards, the same trick that makes slot machines work, with no natural stopping cue. It is literally engineered to beat willpower, so trying harder is a losing game. What actually works is friction: putting something physical between the impulse and the app. And here's the counterintuitive part the research keeps finding, a small speed bump you can bypass beats a hard wall you resent, because it turns an autopilot tap into a conscious choice. That is exactly the kind of thing Claude can build for you, no coding needed. Every prompt below tells Claude to keep it reversible, so this is friction by design, never a prison.
Start here, because everything else gets built around your real pattern, not a generic one.
I want to build a focus system to stop myself doomscrolling, built around my actual patterns. Here is my screen-time data: [paste your weekly Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing summary, or just describe your typical day].
Analyse it and give me back:
- My 2 to 3 highest-risk windows (the exact hours I'm most likely to fall into a scroll)
- The real trigger behind each one (boredom, anxiety, avoiding a hard task, or a transition like just-woke-up or the post-lunch slump)
- The specific apps and sites that eat the most of my time
- For each window, a pre-decided replacement: the specific thing I'll do instead, because an empty moment is when the scroll wins
Put it in a short table and save it as focus-profile.txt, because the rest of my system will be built around these exact windows and sites.This uses the hosts file, the same method the trusted open-source StevenBlack project uses, so blocked sites simply never load in any browser.
Build me a website blocker for my computer using the hosts file, so blocked sites won't load in any browser. I'm on [Mac / Windows / Linux], so give me the exact steps for my system. I'm not technical, so create the scripts for me and explain each part in plain terms.
Must-haves:
- Back up my current hosts file first, and give me a one-command restore, so this can never break anything
- Block these sites AND their www and m (mobile) versions, since the hosts file only matches exact names: instagram.com, tiktok.com, x.com, youtube.com, reddit.com [edit the list]. Use 0.0.0.0 so the connection fails instantly
- One command to turn blocking ON, one to turn it OFF, never make me hand-edit files
- Flush my DNS cache automatically after each change using the correct command for my OS, so it takes effect right away
- Only ever touch my block list, never system, login, or payment sites
Then warn me about the one thing that quietly defeats this: browsers with "secure DNS" (DNS over HTTPS) turned on can skip the hosts file. Tell me exactly where to turn secure DNS off in Chrome, Edge and Firefox so the block actually holds.A blocker you have to remember to switch on is a blocker you'll forget. This makes it automatic.
Now make that blocker run on a schedule so I never decide in the moment. Use the danger windows from my focus-profile: block during [9am to 5pm on weekdays] and lift automatically outside them. Use the right scheduler for my system and set it up step by step: launchd on Mac, Task Scheduler on Windows, cron on Linux. Do not use cron on a Mac, it won't fire reliably after the machine sleeps.
Two rules:
- Give me a panic unlock that works but costs effort: to lift the block early, I have to type out a full sentence I choose, like a promise to myself. Possible, but never a mindless tap
- Never lock me out of anything but my listed sites. Add an automatic daily expiry so the block always ends on its own, and show me how to remove the whole schedule in one command if I ever want toBuild me a background focus timer for [Mac / Windows / Linux].
- 25 minutes focus, 5 minute break, a longer 15 minute break every 4th round (classic Pomodoro), all editable at the top of the file
- A real desktop notification when each focus block ends and the moment a break runs over. Use osascript or terminal-notifier on Mac, BurntToast in PowerShell on Windows, notify-send on Linux
- Log every finished focus block to a file with the date, so I can see my streak and how many real deep-work hours I did this week, and print today's count when I start
- One short command to start a session
- Bonus: while a focus block is running, automatically turn my site blocker ON, and switch it off on breaks
Explain how to run it in plain terms.Your laptop being clean doesn't help if the phone is right there. This covers both iPhone and Android, honestly.
Help me lock the scroll on my phone too. I have [an iPhone / an Android]. Give me a five-minute checklist with the exact menus, and be honest about what the phone will and won't let me fully automate.
For iPhone, set up:
- An app limit on Instagram and TikTok [my apps] in Settings, Screen Time, App Limits, with "Block at End of Limit" on, plus Downtime on a schedule, and a Screen Time passcode so future-me can't just tap "ignore limit"
- A scheduled Focus mode that hides those apps' home screen page and silences them in my danger windows
- The grayscale trick on a schedule using the Shortcuts app (Automation, Time of Day, Set Color Filters on and off), because a black-and-white screen genuinely kills the pull
Be honest: Shortcuts can automate Focus and grayscale, but it can't reliably toggle app limits, so keep those in Screen Time's own schedule.
For Android, use Digital Wellbeing: Focus mode with a schedule for the distracting apps, app timers, and Bedtime mode (which has built-in grayscale). Tell me if my phone has the newer Modes feature and how to use it.Blocking the bad stuff is half the job. This fills the good hours with the right work, and hands you a calendar you can actually import.
Build me a daily focus schedule around my energy and give it to me as a calendar I can import. Ask me for my rough energy pattern and my top 3 tasks first, then build:
- My day in 90-minute deep-work blocks at my peak hours, hardest and most important task first (eat the frog), with real breaks between
- Shallow work, email and admin batched into my low-energy afternoon dip
- My danger windows from the focus-profile filled with the specific replacement activity I chose, so the scroll never gets an empty slot
- All of it as an .ics file I can import into Google Calendar or Apple Calendar in one click, with the deep-work blocks marked as busyOnce you've seen how the pieces fit, this single prompt has Claude build all six as one connected project, driven by one config file you control. This is the one to use if you just want the whole thing set up.
Build me a complete anti-doomscroll focus system as one project, and set it up on my [Mac / Windows]. I'm not technical, so create every file, explain each step in plain terms, check each part works before moving on, and never lock me out of anything except the sites I choose.
Start by asking me three things: my worst scroll times, the sites and apps I lose time to, and my top tasks plus my energy pattern. Then build, in a single folder called focus-system:
1. A config file at the centre (my danger windows, my block list, my work hours) that everything else reads from, so I only ever edit my choices in one place.
2. A hosts-file site blocker: back up my hosts file first, block my sites plus their www and m versions with 0.0.0.0, one-command on and off, automatic DNS flush, and tell me how to turn off secure DNS in my browser so it holds.
3. A scheduler for my OS (launchd, Task Scheduler, or cron) that blocks during my danger windows and lifts after, with a type-a-sentence panic unlock and an automatic daily expiry.
4. A background Pomodoro timer with real notifications and a session log, that auto-enables the blocker during focus blocks.
5. An .ics calendar that lays my day into 90-minute deep-work blocks around my energy, hardest task first, with my danger windows filled by my chosen replacement activity.
6. A short phone checklist for my [iPhone / Android]: scheduled Focus mode, app limits, and scheduled grayscale.
Finish with a one-page README showing how to start it, how to pause it, and how to completely uninstall the whole system in one command. This is meant to be friction, not a prison, so keep everything reversible.Every prompt above quietly encodes something research actually backs, so you're building a real system, not a gimmick:
If you only do two things, do the blocker plus the schedule (steps 2 and 3), because together they remove the choice entirely, and that's most of the win. Add the phone lock and grayscale next, since your phone is where most of the scroll actually happens. The timer and the calendar are what turn "I stopped scrolling" into "I got real work done." And whenever you build it, keep the honesty in mind: this is friction, not a cage. Everything here is reversible on purpose, the blocker is bypassable if you truly need a site, and that's exactly why it works. You're not trying to out-discipline a slot machine at 3am, you're making the scroll a little harder than the thing you actually want to do.