precisely

there are countless apps that do the exact same thing and they have been out there for many, many years.

I haven’t seen them changing anything.

EDIT: also google knows this very well and the feature is clearly designed to be as useless as possible and to be ignored by 99% of the users.

An anti-doomscrolling feature is now built into Android. (Yes, things have gotten that bad.)

On Tuesday, Google announced Pause Point, which is designed to keep users from engaging with addictive apps on Android, the mobile operating system that powers Google’s Pixel smartphones, Samsung devices, and others.

Pause Point works by requiring a 10-second pause after you open any app you’ve labeled for yourself as being a distraction. TikTok, Instagram, X, and even Google’s YouTube could be the kinds of apps labeled as “distracting” by Android device owners worried about the power of time-sucking algorithms to eat away at their day.

With the addition, Google isn’t only thinking of users’ well-being, of course.

It’s reacting to increasing regulatory pressure around social media harms and algorithmic dangers. Today, many countries and U.S. states have created laws to restrict or ban minors from using social media, as the impacts of these apps on young people’s mental well-being have become better understood.

Google can now point to a feature like Pause Point to claim it’s part of the solution, not the problem.

“Android is more capable than ever, but we also want to give you the tools to disconnect when you need to,” explained Dieter Bohn, previously executive editor at The Verge, now director of product operations for Google’s Platforms & Ecosystems organization, in a press briefing about the Android 17 update.

“I think that we are all guilty of going into our phone and then opening some app and getting stuck on autopilot, and an hour has gone by,” he said.

To date, social media app makers, including YouTube, have turned to the idea of app timers as a way to remind you to take a break or stop scrolling. Pause Point flips that idea on its head, as it interrupts the app’s launch — and the dopamine flood that follows — to force you to stop and rethink whether this is what you actually want to do, or is just a habit you’d like to break.

Google says you could use the time Pause Point enables to do a short breathing exercise or to think about other things you could do instead of scrolling. For instance, the feature can suggest more worthwhile apps, like a favorite fitness app, an audiobook app, the Kindle or Google Play Books app, or others.

You can also choose to scroll through some favorite photos for ideas — perhaps those reminding you of other engaging activities, like outdoor walks, your pets, or arts and crafts.

Plus, Pause Point lets you choose to set an app timer before you dive in, which makes the time you spend in-app feel more intentional at the start. This could work better than a default timer, which is always set for the same length of time, even as the circumstances leading you to take a break from scrolling can vary.

The feature is harder to turn off than traditional app timers, too, many of which can simply be ignored. Instead, Pause Point requires a phone restart to turn it off, Google says, which also makes you think before disabling it.

Pause Point may not be as fun (or adorable) as the screen-time-focused or self-care apps like Finch or Hank Green’s Focus Friend, but it does have the advantage of being built into Android itself, which could help it gain traction.

it definitely must not be as easy as it seems.

This disables the QUIC graceful shutdown feature, and thus closes the leak. The mitigation will persist across reboots, but it may be undone by system updates, in which case the steps will need to be repeated.

Performing this mitigation means that the server-side QUIC socket will remain half-open until it times out, which should generally not negatively affect the Android device or apps running on it. However, only use the command at your own risk if you understand the implications.

does anyone know what are the implications of the fix proposed?

it depends where you draw the line.

for me it’s absurd to force me to use a google-rigged device.

for someone else becoming an androidcentipede could be acceptable.

your (you and the other user too) comparisons and depiction of Linux devices and software are the only things in bad faith here.

even more so since we aren’t talking about ideals and philosophies here, but about google actually attempting to “close” Android.

so, once more, where do you draw the line?

personally I’ve already ditched google years ago because it was the right thing to do, now my current phone will be the last android device I’ll use because it’s gonna be the next right thing to do.

there isn’t much to argue here: keep using android and expect worse than this, or ditch it and boycott that turd of google.

the point being “I prefer being sodomized by corporations instead of putting some effort in switching to an alternative”?

well yes, as I already said you totally can, but it’s already backfiring so I wonder where do you people draw the line, assuming there is a line at all.

see my other comment for an answer.

you are mixing privacy and freedom, but generally speaking all alternatives need effort, including the one I already gave you.

be the change you want to see, as they say.

or don’t but then this happens and it sucks more than not having NFC or whatever.

then give up your freedom for the features you are used to, but don’t complain later.

step 1 - buy Linux phone step 2 - profit!

I see.

the tech giant you mean is IBM I imagine?

what is the difference between the adoption of systemd and that of X or Wayland?

aren’t those equally “mainstream” and don’t they also leave almost no chance to have an alternative (especially for the average user)?

this is a genuine question because, while I know and understand the sentiment against systemd, I realized just now that in the 20 years I’ve been on Linux many things I’ve used were kinda against “freedom”.

I imagine CSAM content will be exempt from this block.

I’ll go and ask ChatGPT real quick.

that would actually make sense

nothing a social media ban for <13 years old kids can’t solve, am I right?

One of the most popular Linux distributions is about to get an influx of AI features. As reported by Phoronix, Jon Seager, VP of engineering at Ubuntu developer Canonical, shared a blog post on Monday detailing plans to add AI features to the Linux distro over the next year. As the post states, the AI features “will come in two forms: first as a means of enhancing existing OS functionality with AI models in the background, and latterly in the form of ‘AI native’ features and workflows for those who want them.”

These features will range from accessibility tools like improved speech-to-text and text-to-speech to agentic AI features for tasks like troubleshooting or personal automation. According to Seager, Canonical will be prioritizing model transparency and local inference when adding these AI features. Behind the scenes, Canonical is also encouraging its engineers to use AI more, but Seager noted that “I will not be measuring people at Canonical by how much they use AI, but rather continue to measure them on how well they deliver.”

Seager goes on to add that AI features could potentially help new users navigate the “famously fragmented” Linux desktop ecosystem: “If we’re careful about how we employ LLMs in a system context, they could demystify the capabilities of a modern Linux workstation and bring them to a much wider audience.”