I made a simple tool to save you from online distractions

Can you help me make it better?

Hi! This is Louis from 12 Challenges (about), a newsletter you signed up to last year where I write about my attempts to make the internet a bit better.

A very quick post today to tell you two things.

1) I’ll be writing regularly again

I know. I read your mind. You were just thinking: ‘My deepest hope and desire for 2025 is that this one random guy called Louis from the internet gets back to writing three times a week about his tech activism efforts’. Faced with this overwhelming demand, I have no choice but to comply.

2) Try out Nudge to save yourself from online distractions

9 years ago (!) I launched a tool called Nudge to help people use the internet less. Over the years, I stopped maintaining Nudge because 1) I didn’t have time 2) Nudge tried to do too many things.

Now, Nudge is back with a new version and a simpler focus:

Hide everything that gets in the way of your online life.

Think of Nudge as an ad blocker, except for distractions like news feeds, recommended content and comments.

You can install Nudge for Chrome here.

It has a 4.6 star rating with over 2,000 users. It’s free, open source, and always will be.

I’ve found Nudge seriously useful at helping me avoid doomscrolling.

It hides distractions by default, but includes a button to show them when needed. That button is crucial — it stops me from uninstalling the app, since I know I can always show the distraction when I need to. But I’m not immediately distracted on page load, and that makes a world of difference.

So here’s a question: would you consider trying out Nudge and letting me know your thoughts by replying to this email or getting in touch with hi [at] louis [dot] work?

I’d love to make Nudge useful to millions, and the only way that’s possible is with your feedback.

Or, if you’re excited enough about Nudge to help make it even better, join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/psxMtcWHdZ.

Before you click that link, let me be frank — there are community centres in Chernobyl that are more active than the Discord is right now. But you can change all that by joining and kicking up a royal fuss.

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Thanks for reading! Back soon with some cool updates about what I spent 2024 on, and what I’m planning for 2025.