Break.ly

💡 Inspiration

For many, Social Media causes them to feel the most insecure about their looks, lifestyle, accomplishments (or lack thereof), etc. However, people have a hard time staying off of social media and have become addicted to it, wondering how many views they have and how to increase their follower account. This has taken a drastic toll on our youth & young adult's mental health. Staying home during this pandemic, has caused us to spend more time on Social Media and tamper with our already fragile Mental Health. We are desperately in need of an app that can force us to stop spending so much time in one of the most toxic & detrimental places for our mental health.

🙅📱 What it does

Break.ly helps users take care of & prioritize their Mental Health with the following features:

• App Blockage Break.ly allows you to select which apps you would like to block and for how long. When attempting to open the app it will remind you that it is lock and will give you a healthy activity you can do instead, like journaling, reading, running, etc.
• Journal Break.ly's journal feature allows you to express your thoughts & emotion in a healthy way. It also gives you daily prompts if you want to write, but don't know where to start. You can also view past journal entries and see your daily emotions & moods.
• Meditation Break.ly's meditation feature allows users to set a timer for meditation and our soothing sounds play as you do so. You can opt for our audio, no audio, or your own audio.

🔨 How we built it

Technologies Used

Google Docs & Draw

• We used google docs during the ideating & brainstorming phase.
• We used Google draw to map out features & MVPs.

Figma

• We made the design system & branding on Figma (color, typography, etc.).
• Then, We made wireframes.
• Lastly, We made low & high-fidelity.

Process

I used a design thinking framework.

1. Empathize
2. Define the problem
3. Ideate
4. Prototype
5. Test

• Problem: Social Media is quickly causing youths & young adults' mental health to deteriorate.
• Question (HMW): How might we improve our mental health by limiting our social media usage?
• We will need to: Bring an application that forces users to spend less time using social media, as well as other activities that can help strengthen their mental health.
• Solution: An app that blocks social media apps on ALL devices where the app is downloaded. Also, has a meditation & journal feature as healthy ways to better users' mental health.
• Impact: Increase the overall happiness of our generation, decrease causes of depression/suicides, spend more time away from
• Main audience: Youth (12-18) & Young Adults (19-30)
• How our app meets the needs of our audience: Provides them a place to de-stress and helps them stay focus, as it blocks social media apps. Also prevents them from spending too much time on social media & helps them better their mental health.
• Design System: The user interface is clean, simple, and easy to use for our target audience. Use calm colors like medium shades of purple, orange, red, and blue to create a comfortable environment to de-stress & let go. The use of emojis & trendy 3d characters were a perfect fit for both Youth & Young Adults.

😤 Challenges we ran into

• Finding teammates to create a project with.
• Trying to learn code and implement my designs into code.
• Working on the hack with my brother, as we are both beginners.
• Time constraints

🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Completing a useful & impactful project on time despite the challenges stated above.
• Completing all screens on time a.
• Making our prototype fully clickable.

📖 What we learned

• We learned more about user personas & user research
• We learned more about app design and UI
• We learned about using my research to create the UX
• We learned about design systems (typography, color, branding, etc.)
• We learned a little bit about HTML & CSS even though we weren’t able to implement them during this hackathon

🚀 What's next for Break.ly

Break.ly does not & will not stop at the end of this hackathon! It will continue with the help of developers & investors. So if you, judge, or hackathon participant know anyone wanting to join in the creation of a mental health app, let me know! Here's our launch plan:

Part I:

• Finalize platform and recording/detection functionalities.
• Initiate outbound marketing and sales.
• Leverage GenZ & student ambassadors.

Part II

• Pilot test in colleges & mental health/youth programs.
• Integrate user feedback
• Integrate new features
• Monetize further