Launched this week
Paced: Focus & Screen Time
Break the scroll trance with movement, not just willpower.
13 followers
Break the scroll trance with movement, not just willpower.
13 followers
Standard blockers are too easy to bypass. Paced is a session-based pattern interrupt that stops the "scroll binge" before it starts. When your limit hits, you choose: Wait out the cooldown or Walk to reduce it (100 steps = 3 mins). Turn a mindless habit into a physical trade and reclaim your day.
Hey everyone! I’m Rhonda.
I’ve spent my life as a Realtor in Saskatoon, so launching a tech startup at 50 wasn't exactly on my radar. But honestly? I was just tired of my phone winning every single night.
I tried the built-in wellbeing stuff on my phone, but it was too easy to cheat. I’d blow my whole “daily limit” by lunch and then just hit “ignore for today” or delete the app because I was frustrated. Traditional blockers felt like a time-out for adults, and I didn't want to be punished—I just didn't want to be stuck.
So I built Paced to handle things differently. Instead of a daily budget, it breaks your time into sessions. When you hit your limit, Paced interrupts the trance and gives you a choice:
Wait out a 60-minute timer.
Walk it off (every 100 steps knocks 3 minutes off the clock so you unlock the app faster).
Emergency Unlock: If you’re desperate, you can get 15 minutes immediately, but it breaks your streak. I’ve found that most people will actually go for a quick walk just to keep that streak alive.
Since I don't have a tech background, I used Gemini as an expert partner to help me navigate all the things I didn't even know I didn't know. It was my sounding board for the strategy and helped me lead a dev team to get this to the Play Store in just seven months. We’re seeing a 30.4% daily usage rate now, which tells me I wasn't the only one looking for a "negotiation" rather than a "jail sentence."
I’ll be here all day to chat about habits, solo founding at 50, or why I think we need a bit more "Wait vs. Walk" logic in our lives.
Paced is on Android now, and the iOS waitlist is officially open!
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This is a genuinely clever approach to the willpower problem. The streak mechanic paired with the walk option creates real friction in a way that feels like a choice rather than punishment—that's the insight most screen time apps miss. The fact that you built this because existing solutions were too easy to circumvent suggests you really understand the psychology here.
@osakasaul Exactly. I wanted a partner, not a punisher. I have been using Paced daily since early February and honestly, I have so much LESS anxiety about my phone now. I know Paced has my back and that I won't get stuck in the scroll!
jared.so
"Movement-based negotiation, not jail" is a really sharp reframe — most blockers fail by being punitive. Curious about the streak ↔ Emergency Unlock interaction: have you seen people gaming the system by intentionally breaking the streak when convenient, or does the social/identity loss carry enough weight that most actually go for the walk? That tradeoff is the whole product, in a sense.
@mcarmonas To be honest, we’re still in the early days of gathering that data! But from my own experience and our beta testers, the 'sting' of a reset streak is the exact friction I needed. Paced is a partner, not a jailer—if you game the system, you're only outsmarting your own goals. I’m curious to see if our wider launch users feel the same way!