Saving my brother.

My younger brother (17) has a very bad screentime/video game addiction (adhd amplfies this). He can never seem to motivate himself to study, exercise, eat healthy, etc. and it has gotten to the point where's hes failing his classes in his senior year, is obese, and does literally nothing about it. I care about him a lot and i've tried everything but i decided to take the science + gaming approach lol. I created an AI accountability pet for him that he kind of takes care of.

He found the buggy alpha version really helpful, currently this is how it works:

Everyday you log your good habits (completing homework, working out) and bad habits (such as video games), failing habits hurts your Doxo, and completing them gives him EXP! Level him up, and unlock different perks.

You check in with your Doxo where he will give you feedback, inspiration and science-backed advice in order to help you stick with your habits and helps monitor + lower your screentime user.

You can send your Doxo on adventures to collect coins, and use them to buy badges and emotes.

If you want to use social media (which Doxo blocks), you have to pay Doxo coins for every minute you want to use a blocked app. He found this the most helpful. Lowered his screentime by 83% and is actually consistently on top of his homework, and he gets rewarded for it on doxo and IRL of course.

i don't want to break self promotion rules so i'll not be posting any links here. that said, i'd love to hear your guys opinion about it, and maybe some feature requests.

It's an interesting debate, using gamification to help you fight other addictions. It seems almost counterintuitive, but the way I think about it, Tik Tok and Facebook are billion dollar companies that optimize their product for super long use, not for user growth. At the end of the day, if someone uses an app and the end result is that they feel fulfilled and proud, versus feeling like they wasted their time then I see it as justified.

Not using gamification to me is like going to a kid in a candy store and trying to tempt him with some broccoli.

Submitted July 26, 2023 at 08:24PM by Character-Letter-969 https://ift.tt/kQEV87h