ReelsFiend

ReelsFiend

Inspiration

We’ve all opened Instagram or TikTok for just a few minutes and suddenly lost hours. Doomscrolling has become a daily habit for millions. Instead of relying on self-control, we wanted to create something that used humor and public accountability to help people break the cycle. Shame and memes felt like the perfect combination.

What it does

ReelsFiend tracks how many short-form videos you watch and how much time you waste. It shows you your stats in a personal dashboard and ranks you on a public Shameboard. The more you scroll, the higher you climb. It is a playful but painfully honest way to make people aware of their habits.

How we built it

We built a browser extension that tracks time spent and the number of videos watched on sites like Instagram. The data is sent to a Supabase database in the backend and visualized on a React-based dashboard. Users can see their own stats and compare them with others through a live leaderboard.

Challenges we ran into

Detecting and tracking reels accurately across different web platforms was tricky. We had to experiment with different DOM selectors and interaction patterns.

One of the key challenges was ensuring smooth communication between the Chrome extension and the web application. The extension collects data in the browser, but passing that information to the backend in a consistent and secure way required careful planning.

We had to handle background scripts, local data storage, and message passing while making sure updates were accurate and timely. Structuring the data so that the dashboard could read it cleanly and display it correctly added complexity, especially with multiple users generating activity simultaneously.

Making the shame fun without going too far was another creative challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built a working extension and dashboard in less than 48 hours. The Shameboard updates in real time and makes users laugh while also making them think. The developers on our test runs started changing their habits after just a few hours of use.

What we learned

People are more responsive to humor and social accountability than they are to traditional warnings. Small nudges combined with strong visuals can be powerful. Building for behavior change takes both creativity and empathy. Meme energy can be effective when paired with good UX and data design.

What's next for ReelsFiend

We plan to refine the interface and add more meme-based features like roast notifications and weekly shame reports. We will improve cross-platform tracking and expand to mobile. Once ready, we will launch to the public and see how far we can take the Shameboard as a tool for good.