Year: 2026
Stack: JavaScript (Extension API), Manifest V3
Platform: Chrome Web Store
The Problem: Non-existent Friction
The internet wasn’t designed to help you concentrate; it was designed to keep you engaged. I’ve observed that most people don’t lose hours for lack of goals, but for lack of barriers. When everything is allowed, willpower depletes quickly.
The Solution: Escudo Mental (Mental Shield)
In response to this challenge, I developed Escudo Mental (under my company brand, Kometa Networks). It is not just another blocker; it is a tool that introduces awareness and smart friction.
It is designed for professional and educational environments, including a database with over 900 distraction and adult content sites, active from the first second.
Key Features
- Applied Stoic Philosophy: When blocking a site, I don’t show a generic error. I present quotes from Marcus Aurelius or Seneca to transform frustration into reflection.
- Protection Mode: A local parental control system that prevents impulsive deactivation using a master phrase, without relying on external accounts.
- Impact Measurement: Algorithms that estimate the time recovered based on blocked access attempts.
What’s New in v1.3.0: Social Media Focus Mode
Escudo Mental not only fights adult content, but now also tackles the “infinite scroll” of cheap dopamine. This update introduces a simple toggle on the main screen to empower your focus:
- Instant Blocking: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, Reddit, Discord, Twitch, WhatsApp Web, and 18 additional platforms (26 in total) are blocked with a single click.
- No Prisons, Just Friction: Everything goes back to normal if you disable it. But if Protection Mode is active, disabling social blocking requires typing the full master phrase (up to 40 characters), giving you the exact time needed to deeply rethink that impulse.
- Expanded Database: We have surpassed 950 natively blocked domains thanks to community reports, keeping mirrors and evasive domains at bay.
- Native Performance: Uses a separate rule range (30000+) in
declarativeNetRequest, meaning that toggling this block does not affect your custom list and is natively processed by Chrome in real-time, with zero overhead.
Technical Focus and Privacy
For this project, privacy was a non-negotiable requirement.
- Local Architecture: The extension does not analyze or record browsing history in the cloud.
- Zero-Tracking: No data is sent to external servers. All processing occurs in the user’s browser.
- Manifest V3: Built following the latest Chrome security and performance standards.
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.” — Seneca