Hi there, I am looking for a way to limit the time the system allows me to spend in program x.
Basically, I want it to go: Oh, you’ve been playing that for 2 hours. Now, time to touch some grass.

I couldn’t find any existing programs for that, only screen time clients, which is not what I am after. Any ideas?

OS: Linux Mint

  • palordrolap@fedia.io
    3·
    2 days ago

    This is going to vary by program and no solution is guaranteed to be perfect even if tailored for a specific time-sink program (TSP henceforth).

    Would you be OK with the TSP being force-closed and potentially losing all progress and/or work, like a grumpy parent yanking a power cord?

    What’s to stop you from simply re-opening the TSP again? Or opening the TSP outside the control of whatever’s supposed to tell you “no more”? (Related to “snooze” and “don’t even bother setting the alarm” hacks for more regular alarm clocks!)

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    7·
    3 days ago

    I’ve never used it, but Timekpr-nExT says that it does this, and it appears to be packaged in Debian trixie, so it’s probably in all the Debian-family distros.

  • Goretantath@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    Well if the objective is to “touch grass”, wouldn’t screen time ones be fine? If the objective were something along the lines of “OK played enough solitaire, time to work on that essay” then I’d see the need for individual program locking.

    • sga@piefed.socialEnglish
      21·
      3 days ago

      if you have been doing work stuff, that screen time usage is usuaaly not that bad, it is likely limiting browser or social media usage.