Show HN: Brainrot messed up my kid's attention span, so I built a tool to fix it

[aadivar]

Hi HN! I am Dan (aadivar), one of two people who have built Kite, a tool with a simple goal: get rid of brain rot and internet addiction.

Modern websites are built to keep you engaged using algorithmic feeds, infinite scroll, social proof counters, autoplay recommendations, urgency timers, etc. Even when you intend to check one thing, you get pulled into a 45-minute session you didn't choose.

I personally noticed this with my daughter, who was getting pulled into YouTube Shorts rabbit hole addiction, while she was supposed to be using the platform for science and music lessons. Trying to limit her time on the app didn't help much, and blocking YouTube entirely would block the educational content as well.

I wanted a way to block only YouTube Shorts while keeping the other longform video content. Unfortunately, a simple solution for my problem did not exist. Thus the idea for Kite was born.

With Kite, anyone can use natural language to say:

- "Hide shorts" - "Replace infinite scroll with pagination" - "Hide like counts"

And the tool does exactly what you need, thus removing brainrot rabbit holes and other addictive elements.

**

Kite is available under a closed beta right now, and we would especially love feedback from folks who spend a lot of time on YouTube, Twitter/X, Reddit, LinkedIn, or shopping platforms.

Beta sign-up here: https://www.agentkite.com

Happy to answer any technical questions about how the agent safely modifies websites on the client side.

**

BTW, We also built AttentionGuard, which detects manipulation patterns like FOMO cues, engagement traps, social pressure signals etc. in real-time and flags them. This extension is open-source (MIT license) and live for Chrome and Firefox now. More details on our website!

[ticulatedspline]

While good parental controls are definitely lacking this feels like this doesn't really address the underlying issue and at best simply restores some aspect of "VHS and Cable TV" parenting of the days of yore. Perhaps even worse since it doesn't seem like it would instill any resiliency to the very effects it blocks, as soon as you remove kite from your child's path would you expect them to remain steadfast or immediately revert to that addiction?

Marketed as a next gen ad-blocker I could see more utility.

On the directly harmful side seems like you could ask it "hide all posts from an opposing viewpoint" to help people create echo chambers.

From a product standpoint, general purpose first-party browser agents (from Microsoft/Google/Apple) might eat your lunch. Though if you get far enough fast enough you might get bought out! ;-)

[aadivar]

For us this is less about shielding forever and more about restoring friction. VHS-era TV at least had natural boundaries — episodes ended, tapes ran out. Infinite scroll never does. we are basically trying to bring back stopping cues.

re: On the echo chamber point — yeah, that’s something we’re thinking about. The intent is to target mechanics (infinite scroll, counters, autoplay), not viewpoints.

re: browser vendors eating our lunch — totally possible. But there’s also an inherent conflict for engagement-driven platforms to aggressively reduce engagement.

Appreciate your thoughts!

[ahazred8ta]

If it would work in schools, please explain it to the K12 sysadmin forum https://reddit.com/r/k12sysadmin

[aadivar]

Ha, we didn't mention K-12 but you read our minds. The YouTube problem I described with my daughter is exactly what every school deals with — block YouTube and you lose Khan Academy, allow it and kids are in Shorts all period. With Kite a sysadmin could say 'only show videos from subscribed channels' and suddenly YouTube becomes a curated learning tool. Will post on r/k12sysadmin — thanks for the nudge.

[niveditn]

Hi, this is Nik (niveditn), the other creator of Kite. Happy to answer any questions about the tool here!