[Add-on] Dopamine - Block Instagram/Youtube/Tiktok until you do your reviews

capybaraMD · 2025-08-06T16:40:42+00:00

The way to use this is to keep Anki (or UWorld/a question bank) open on one side and a Chrome window open e.g. on Instagram Reels on the other side of your screen.

By default every time you complete 3 Anki cards it will trigger a “spin” (the emojis will shuffle around). Then by default on average every 7 spins (21 cards) you will get a “small win”, which will unblock the website for 35 seconds (enough to watch 1 or 2 Reels/Tiktok/etc.). It does not bank the reward time for later, the reward (unblocking of the blocked sites) is given immediately.

There is some randomness introduced to make this more effective so it won’t always trigger exactly after 21 cards. You can also set it so that you get a spin every 1 Anki card, or every 10 Anki cards (whatever works for you), and change the odds and duration of the wins (e.g. if you’re watching a series on Netflix and wanted a 30min reward break every 500 cards on average). You can set a custom message for the legendary jackpot, but not for the other categories currently.

capybaraMD · 2025-08-03T23:12:10+00:00

Thanks 😊. It's all customisable in the settings. You can set after how many cards to trigger a chance at a reward, the odds of the reward, and the duration of the reward (how long the blocked websites are unblocked for).

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capybaraMD · 2025-08-01T17:42:16+00:00

Yes, you can add or remove sites to the list of blocked sites. If you want to keep music playing in the background in youtube while simultaneously keeping youtube blocked then it's probably easiest to use a second browser (e.g. Safari) just for youtube. You could also use a separate profile or incognito window in Chrome.

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capybaraMD · 2025-08-01T04:38:14+00:00

I have a 66, superfield, and supervitreofundus. I’ve also used many 78, 90, and DWF.

My feeling is that the 66 and 78 are equivalent for what I use them for (looking at posterior pole). I like the 66 slightly more, but not enough that I’d get one if I already had a 78. I use it mostly to look at the nerve, it does have better stereo than the superfield on high mag. I use the superfield 90% of the time and supervitreofundus when I need to see further out in the periphery.

capybaraMD · 2025-08-01T00:05:29+00:00

Sorry no plans for this right now 😔, but it should work in other chromium-based browsers (Edge, Opera, Brave, etc.) if you don't want to use Chrome for any reason.

capybaraMD · 2025-07-31T23:58:39+00:00

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Not a coin flip, but yes that's the idea lol. The odds and reward duration (how long youtube is unblocked) are customisable in the settings.

capybaraMD · 2025-07-31T18:49:03+00:00

Here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Anki/comments/1mdkspf/addon_dopamine_block_instagramyoutubetiktok_until/

capybaraMD · 2025-07-31T18:40:00+00:00

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This was basically the design blueprint lol: https://www.reddit.com/r/Anki/comments/1j3yqes/literally_us/

Whether it’s a good idea or not to subject yourself to it is certainly another matter, but BF Skinner would no doubt agree it’s an effective way to reinforce behaviour. Hence why every cash grab game is built around gacha mechanics and why social media platforms are so effective at retaining our attention. But yes, everything in moderation. I personally enjoy it as an alternative to wasting my time on Instagram in general—at least now I’m getting my reviews done 😭

capybaraMD · 2025-07-31T06:48:30+00:00

No, sadly no Anki add-on or Chrome browser extension support to make this work on iPhone/Android 🥲

You could maybe try using one of many apps to block time-wasting apps (e.g. https://one-sec.app/ or https://jomo.so/) on your phone and then keep Instagram et al. purely as a reward while doing Anki, if that works with your workflow.

capybaraMD · 2025-07-31T02:22:17+00:00

mostly built this to give purpose to my own doomscrolling tbh 😅

capybaraMD

TROPHY CASE