An app designed to stop the outrage. 672 news sites, one deliberate breath, zero tracking. For iPhone, iPad and Mac.
BlockTheNews, a Safari extension for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that adds a deliberate pause before you open a news site. The idea came from a simple realization: reading the news isn’t always a conscious choice. Sometimes it’s a reflex. But in the last years the news got sour. And media companies are using emotional triggers to drive page views. A large randomized study covering more than 370 million headline impressions found that each additional negative word increased clicks by 2.3 (https://www.nature.com/articles/...). So BlockTheNews was built to intervene at the exact moment the habit begins. It comes with 670 news domains from more than ten countries. When you open one, the page is replaced by an unskippable six-second countdown. You’re then asked why you need to visit it right now. Your answer is never saved. If you continue, the site opens for ten minutes before closing again.