TLDR: On Topic is a Chrome extension that tries to help you focus. Specify topic(s) you need to focus on, and as you browse the internet, our NLP analyzes the content of each page you view. If a page is irrelevant to your area of focus, it gets blocked!

Hi HN,

Creator of On Topic here. The idea came to me while I was a masters student in the Georgia Tech OMSCS (online masters of computer science) program. I’ve always had a hard time focusing, and studying online was very difficult for me. I would be watching my college lectures (which were hosted on YouTube) or reading some blog relevant to one of my classes, and without fail would end up going down some totally unrelated rabbit hole.

I tried using existing content blocking software and editing etc/hosts, but this didn’t work for me. Why? Well for one: My lecture videos were hosted on YouTube, so blocking YouTube was a non-starter.

I quickly realized that a truly useful focus enhancing software would need to be able to block “topics”, not just domains. Using some of the NLP techniques I learned during my degree, I hacked together the On Topic extension. It allows you to specify topic(s) you need to focus on, and as you browse the internet, our NLP analyzes the content of each page you view. If a page is irrelevant to your area of focus, it gets blocked! Right now it works on YouTube, Reddit, and most news-sites and blogs.