Stake against → news doomscrolling
Doomscrolling promises clarity and delivers cortisol. Set a daily Android limit on Google News, Reddit, X, and the rest. Stake real money against it. Cross the line and the stake goes to a charity you chose.
Suggested starting contract
$7/day against a daily limit of 30 minutes on the apps you choose.
Free on Google Play and the App Store. On Android, grant the screen time permission so the app can measure usage accurately. On iPhone, grant Screen Time access so Lockin can read your daily app usage.
Choose the Screen Time challenge. This is the contract type tied to per-app usage limits, the right fit for capping news consumption.
Typical: Google News, NYT, BBC, Reuters, NPR, Bloomberg, plus the social apps you use as news sources (X, Reddit, Threads). Be honest — most doomscrolling happens on social, not on news apps.
15-30 minutes is enough for genuine awareness, below the dread-loop threshold. Most people recover hours per week without losing any real signal.
Five to ten dollars per day is the standard starting range. Small enough to commit to without flinching, sharp enough that loss aversion kicks in when your finger hovers over the news icon.
Pick from Lockin's vetted list. If you fail, your stake funds the charity you chose. Lockin charges a small platform fee to cover payment processing and operations.
Review the contract — apps, daily limit, stake amount, charity, duration — and confirm. The contract is live the moment you sign. No backing out mid-day.
From Lockin's data
Verified on-device on both Android (Digital Wellbeing reports daily per-app usage in seconds) and iPhone (Screen Time). Under the limit = stake returned. Over by any amount = stake forfeited to your chosen charity.
"I was opening Google News every elevator ride, every red light, every gap between meetings. Eighty-plus minutes a day of nothing but bad weather, bad politics, bad markets. Lockin's thirty-minute cap with seven dollars on the line cut it to twenty-two minutes the first week. My head feels noticeably clearer and I stopped waking up already braced for impact."
— Anonymous beta user, news doomscrolling challenge, 6 weeks active
Lockin tracks. On Android it uses Digital Wellbeing; on iPhone, Screen Time. The app you picked stays usable on both — but every second is on the meter. One minute over your daily limit at end of day equals a forfeit to your chosen charity. The friction is financial, not technical.
The 1-day emergency refund window covers verified emergencies. For most major events, 30 minutes a day is more than enough — the marginal information from minute 31 to minute 300 is almost always repetition of the same five facts. If you genuinely need more during a specific crisis week, set a higher limit for that week, then return to the baseline.
Forfeited stakes go to a registered charity from Lockin's vetted list. You choose the charity from categories including climate, mental health, animal welfare, and digital literacy when you set up the contract. Lockin charges a small platform fee to cover payment processing and operations. Refer to the transparency page inside the app for charity-by-charity tallies.
Same approach as work apps — exempt the apps you need professionally, limit the consumption ones. Or set a tight daily cap (15-20 minutes total across consumer news apps) and let yourself spend it deliberately. Working journalists can also restrict the social-news vector specifically (X, Reddit, Threads) while leaving primary sources (Reuters, AP feeds, beat-specific publications) unrestricted.
Free to download. You set the limit, the stake, and the charity.
Author
The Lockin Team — Lockin Editorial
Last verified