Algorithms are designed to be sticky. This makes them slippery.
Social media engineering is brilliant—it’s designed to interrupt your flow state and keep you scrolling. BlockItOut is an open-source Chrome Extension that strips away the addictive "sugar" (Shorts, Reels, Suggested Feeds) from Instagram and YouTube, leaving you with a functional tool rather than a time trap.
We don't block the sites; we just make them behave.
Most blockers are all-or-nothing. You either block YouTube entirely (and can't watch that tutorial you need), or you keep it open and lose 2 hours to Shorts.
BlockItOut sits in the middle. It’s a DOM-modifier that surgically removes the slot-machine mechanics while keeping the utility intact.
- Developers: It’s lightweight, vanilla JS, and runs locally.
- Users: It saves your brain cells without requiring you to delete your accounts.
Turn Instagram into a portfolio viewer, not a dopamine drip.
- Safe Feed: Automatically hides "Sponsored" posts, "Suggested for you," and ads. You only see who you actually follow.
- Blur Mode: Blurs images by default. You have to hover to see them, which stops you from mindlessly scanning.
- Metric Hiding: Removes like counts, follower numbers, and comment counts to stop the comparison game.
- Black Box Mode: Turns addictive posts into static black boxes, keeping the layout intact but the distraction gone.
- No "Story Hopping": Hides the top Stories tray.
Use YouTube as a search engine, not a TV channel.
- Ad Accelerator: Automatically mutes, speeds up (16x), and skips ads the instant they appear.
- Shorts Nuke: Removes the Shorts shelf, the Shorts tab, and redirects Shorts URLs to the normal video player.
- Feed Wiper: Cleans the homepage recommendations. You only see the search bar.
- Theater Focus: Fades out the sidebar, comments, and header while you watch. They only reappear if you ask for them (hover).
- Stop Autoplay: Forces the "Autoplay" toggle to stay OFF.
- Session Monitor: Tracks how long you've been scrolling. If you go too long, it covers the screen with a gentle reminder of what else you could have done (e.g., "You could have done 20 pushups").
- Grayscale Mode: Turns supported sites black and white. Science says this lowers the dopamine reward of colorful icons.
Note: This is currently a manual install for privacy and transparency.
- Download: Clone this repo or download the ZIP and extract it.
- Open Chrome Extensions: Type
chrome://extensionsin your address bar. - Enable Dev Mode: Toggle the "Developer mode" switch in the top right.
- Load: Click "Load unpacked" and select the folder where you extracted these files (the one containing
manifest.json).
BlockItOut runs in the background. When you want to change settings:
- Open Dashboard:
- Method A: Click the BlockItOut icon
in your browser toolbar. - Method B: Type
blockitoutinto Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. A magic button will appear at the bottom of the search results.
- Method A: Click the BlockItOut icon
- Configure: Flip the switches for the features you want.
- Save: Changes are instant.
- Core: Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+)
- Architecture: Chrome Extension Manifest V3
- Storage:
chrome.storage.localfor persisting settings - Privacy: Zero data collection. Everything stays on your machine.
I'm a university student coding this between exams. If this tool saved you from a 3-hour doomscroll, consider buying me a coffee. It keeps the updates coming!
Educational & Personal Productivity Use Only. This software is provided "as is." It modifies the DOM of websites locally on your machine to improve user experience.
- Commercial Use: Prohibited without a license.
- Modification: Feel free to tweak the code for your own personal use.
- Disclaimer: Use at your own risk. We are not responsible if platforms update their code and break a feature.