Striving with online addiction with a self-control chrome extension

摘要

In this paper, we examine a problem of addictive IT services and discuss existing tools for human self-control and self-assessment. Current web technologies support simple on-demand access to various media streaming services. Despite evident positive factors of such entertainment product delivery methods (no downloading is required, media content is accessible anywhere), there are concerns about their addictiveness. As a response to this problem there are time-management tools helping the users to set their short- and long-term goals and to follow them. One significant drawback of existing tools is their focus on blocking access to a service rather than on cooperating with a user by attempting to switch users' attention away from an addictive product. We discuss possible scenarios for such a commitment tool implemented as a Google Chrome browser extension for managing time spent on TV-series online streaming services.