NotifiCATion

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Inspiration

With the onset of virtual events and meetings brought on by a global pandemic, many have adapted to a mostly online lifestyle. Subsequently, the amount of time spent on entertainment websites has surged; in fact, NBC News reports that Youtube views have gone up by 500 percent in early March and other influencers report that views have gone up on their content across other social media platforms as well. With the increased amount of time spent on these entertainment platforms, time spent working or productively completing other projects goes down. Thus, we were inspired to create a program that curbs excessive time spent on websites that the user deems as “unproductive” through a timer-based notification system with a unique interface. Social media websites, in addition to a growing number of entertainment sites, as a whole are designed to be addictive, and as these corporate conglomerates rapidly gain traction, users lose track of time in YouTube spirals or Facebook rabbit holes. Business Today reported that 13% of potential workplace productivity is lost to social media, creating problems for employees and employers alike. For students, this challenge is less easily quantified, but the endless stream of stimulation could easily interfere with students’ ability to concentrate for extended periods of time. Much of this problem can be attributed to the ease with which individuals can lose track of time, so by allowing users to implement timely reminders, we hope to help people become more intentional about how they spend their time.

What it does

NotifiCATion utilizes existing software that tracks time spent on certain websites to monitor whether or not the user is exceeding a pre-imposed time limit the user sets. In the event that the user does exceed the self-imposed time limit, a notification will appear on the user’s screen in the form of a digital cat walking across the screen, accompanied by a message letting the user know how much time they’ve spent on the website. Drawing inspiration from the wildly popular “Meow, the Cat Pet” Google Chrome extension, our notification system will also appeal to the user through the use of a notification-bearing cat, hence the name NotifiCATion. The NotifiCAT will appear on the user’s screen bearing a message, urging them to stop spending time on an “unproductive” website.

How I built it

Using Javascript and drawing inspiration from web timers and the aforementioned "Meow, the Cat Pet" Chrome extension, as well as custom-drawn designs of several different NotifiCATs, we built a unique Chrome extension called NotifiCATion for all the user's online needs.

Challenges I ran into

Understanding the JavaScript syntax we coded our program in was difficult. In addition, getting the cat to appear on the user’s screen at the appropriate time was also a challenge.