About WHY
A mirror,
not a blocker.
WHY is a quiet pause before the sites you open on autopilot. One question, asked at the right moment, and a private journal of what you answered.
01The idea
Screen-time tools tell you how long. They can't tell you why.
You spent 2h 13m on Instagram. But you opened it 31 times. Eighteen of those were to reply to someone. Thirteen had no reason you could name. And the sessions you called “a quick break” ran twice as long as the ones with a purpose.
WHY keeps a record that browsers have never had: not of what you visited, but of why you said you visited.
02Why it exists
It started with a late-night scroll and four books on happiness and addiction. Somewhere between the two, one question kept coming back: why am I actually here?
WHY is the smallest answer I could build: a pause just long enough for awareness to happen, before the tab loads.
03Philosophy
Friction, not force
WHY is not a blocker, a coach, a parent or a therapist. It creates just enough friction for awareness to happen, then gets out of the way.
Noticing, not judging
No scores, no streaks, no shame. Questions rotate so the pause never turns into a reflex. When there is enough history, it points out something worth noticing.
Yours, not ours
Your answers are the most private data you have. They stay on your device, in your browser, and nowhere else.
04How it works
- 01Add a sitePick the ones you tend to open without deciding to.
- 02Open itInstead of the feed, you see one question: Why are you here?
- 03AnswerIn your own words. Choose how long you need. Continue.
- 04BrowseWHY is invisible. Reloads, new tabs and subdomains just work.
- 05Time's upWHY shows what you said and asks one more thing: done, distracted, or need more time?
- 06Look backSee where you went, what brought you there, and how planned time compared to real time.
05Privacy, by design
WHY is local-first by design, not by policy. There is nothing to trust because there is nowhere for your answers to go.
- No account. No server. No sync.
- No analytics. No network requests of any kind.
- Stored only in your browser, on this device.
- WHY never reads page content. By default it keeps the domain, not the page.
- Export everything, or delete everything, in one click.
06Who made it
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