{
  "id": 13648275,
  "title": "\"Good. Now put me away.\" An open Gemma app that measures how fast you can leave it",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/11/good-now-put-me-away-an-open-gemma-app-that-measures-how-fast-you-can",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-11T05:15:53.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/casmazariegos/good-now-put-me-away-an-open-gemma-app-that-measures-how-fast-you-can-leave-it-3m15"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "An open-source AI challenge invited participants to create a \"grounding\" app that helps users return to the present moment. The creator, CasMazariegos, built a web app called MERA, short for Meep Emotional Reset Assistant. This app focuses on one core function: getting users to put their phones down. Most apps track how long users stay on them; MERA, however, measures how quickly users can exit.\n\nMERA features a single, large button labeled \"GROUND ME.\" Upon tapping this button, a soothing breathwork sequence begins. After completing the sequence, users are prompted to select an emotion from a list—overwhelmed, anxious, overstimulated, or drained. Based on the user's selection, MERA provides a tailored real-world mission to help alleviate the user's discomfort. This could be stepping outside, taking deep breaths, or focusing on the five senses.\n\nOnce the mission is completed, MERA displays the message, \"Good. Now put me away.\" The app then encourages users to return to their phones only when they feel better. MERA emphasizes that its purpose is not to keep users on the screen but to bring them back to the moment and help them disengage from their digital devices.",
  "summary": "This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge: Week 1 — Touch Grass Some moments, your head is so loud that you can't feel your own feet on the floor. If you've ever had a hard time grounding yourself, you know that feeling, and you know how a phone can make it worse: one more app, one more thing asking for your attention, when what you need is to come back to your body. I…",
  "key_points": [
    "MERA app measures how fast users can exit their phones",
    "Users select an emotion after breathwork sequence",
    "\"Good. Now put me away\" encourages users to disengage from devices"
  ],
  "editors_take": "This app's design, ending with a message to \"put me away\", inverts typical app goals, prioritizing user disengagement from screens over prolonged engagement, shifting control back to users.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}