Social Media Deterrent — Terms of Service
Social Media Deterrent (the "Service") is a voluntary behavioral-commitment service: you sign in, save a payment card, and agree to be charged a fee when your daily time on social-media sites and apps goes over the Service's fixed daily limits. It exists to make overuse cost you real money. If that is not something you want, do not use the Service.
1. Eligibility
You must be 18 or older, reside in the United States, and have been personally invited to this private beta. The Service is provided to a small, invited group and may change or be discontinued at any time.
2. Fees and charge authorization
By accepting these terms and saving a payment card, you authorize us to charge that card automatically ("off-session"), without further confirmation, as follows:
- Fixed rates and limits: the rate and limits below are set by the Service and are the same for every user; you cannot change them.
- Rate and tiers: time on your tracked sites and, on an iPhone, in the apps and websites you select (see "Phone time" below) accrues at $1.00 per minute. If your total for a day stays under 10 minutes, nothing is charged. Once a day reaches 10 minutes, the whole day's time is charged at $1.00 per minute — not just the minutes over the limit. A day of 10 to under 20 minutes is associated with your charity recipient; a day of 20 minutes or more is associated with your penalty recipient (see Section 3).
- What time counts: a "day" is a calendar day in your local time zone, as reported by your browser or phone. Time counts from when you sign in to the Service on a browser or in the iPhone app; time on that browser or iPhone before you sign in there is not counted. On an iPhone, counting starts once you have signed in and chosen the apps and websites to track.
- One account, one daily total: your account covers every browser and device where you sign in, including the iPhone app. Time from all of them is added into one daily total, and the limits and charges apply to that combined total.
- Phone time: on an iPhone, the app uses Apple's Screen Time to count your time in the apps and websites you select in the app. The tracked-site settings in the extension do not apply to phone time. Screen Time tells the app about phone time only at set checkpoints (for example, when your combined time that day in the selected apps and websites on that iPhone reaches 8, 10 or 12 minutes), so phone time is counted in steps: only the last checkpoint reached counts. Counted phone time can therefore be lower than your actual use, and it is never rounded up. Phone time can also be counted later than it happened, for example while your phone is offline; phone time that reaches us after a day has been settled is not charged. If you believe Screen Time recorded time you did not spend, the refund policy in Section 4 applies. The app warns you with notifications as you approach and pass the limits; it does not block or limit any app or website.
- No charges before setup: your setup is complete once you have accepted the current terms, selected your recipients, and saved a card. Days before the day your setup is complete are never charged. The day your setup completes is charged under these terms for the time counted that day since you signed in.
- Changes take effect the next day: turning off a tracked site, or changing your recipients after your first selection, takes effect at the start of your next local day; the current day is charged under the settings in place before the change. Turning a tracked site back on takes effect immediately. On an iPhone, removing an app or website from your selection likewise takes effect at the start of your next local day. Adding one takes effect immediately, and time already spent in it earlier that day may be counted, except on a day when counting starts on that iPhone (for example, the day you sign in there): additions made that day take effect at the start of your next local day.
- Timing: charges occur during the day as you cross tiers and in an end-of-day sweep shortly after your local midnight.
- Hard cap: we will never charge more than $50 per day in total.
- Cancellation: you can stop future charges at any time by any of these:
- the pause link included in every charge email, which stops all charges until the end of the seventh day after the day you use it, in your local time (any amount not yet charged for the current day is also waived);
- removing your card in the extension or the iPhone app (Account → Remove card) — with no card on file, nothing further can be charged;
- signing out of the Service on a browser or in the iPhone app, uninstalling the extension, deleting the iPhone app, or turning off the app's Screen Time access, which stops new time from that browser or iPhone from being counted (time already counted for the current day may still be charged, during that day or at the end of it); or
- emailing us (Section 8).
Charges appear on your statement under our payment descriptor. Payments are processed by Stripe; we never see or store your card number.
3. Fees are service fees — not donations
Amounts charged are fees paid to the Operator for the deterrence service. They are not charitable donations. As our own separate and voluntary act, we intend to pay amounts equivalent to collected fees to the recipient organizations you select in the extension or the iPhone app (your "charity" and "penalty" recipients), but this is not a promise made in exchange for your payment, we may aggregate or time such payments at our discretion, and you will not receive a tax receipt and may not claim any tax deduction for any amount charged under these terms.
4. Refunds
If you believe a charge was wrong — or you simply regret it — email us within 72 hours of the charge and we will refund it, no questions asked. After 72 hours, refunds are at our discretion. Refunds go to the original payment method.
5. Service quality; disclaimers
The Service is a hobby-scale beta provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied. Tracking may miss usage or over-count in edge cases; notifications may fail; the service may be unavailable. The Service is a self-imposed behavioral tool, not medical, psychological, or financial advice or treatment.
6. Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Operator's total liability arising out of or relating to the Service is limited to the total fees you paid in the 12 months before the claim arose. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages.
7. Disputes; arbitration; class-action waiver
Contact us first — most issues are fixable with an email (and see the refund policy above). Otherwise, any dispute arising out of these terms or the Service will be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, rather than in court, except that either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court. You and the Operator each waive any right to a jury trial and to participate in a class action. These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Washington, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.
8. Contact
Email: gregoryagent123@gmail.com (also the address charge alerts come from).
9. Changes to these terms
If we materially change these terms, the version identifier above changes and you will be asked to accept the new version before any further charges are made. Continued use of the tracking features without accepted current terms may continue, but no charges will occur without acceptance. If you accepted an earlier version, no further charge is made for any day before the day you accept the new version, even after you accept it; the day you accept it is charged under the new version for all time counted that day. Amounts already charged under an earlier version are not affected, except under the refund policy in Section 4.