The Best Chrome Extensions for Social Media Anxiety (Honestly Compared)
If you search the Chrome Web Store for "social media anxiety," you'll find dozens of extensions with different names and logos that all claim to help with the same problem. Most of them do very different things. Picking the wrong one — one that hides the feed when you want to stay connected, or adds friction when the content itself is the problem — means it won't work, and you'll assume the category doesn't work.
This is a genuine comparison, including Devoke. The goal is to help you pick the right tool, not to sell you one.
The five categories
Before looking at individual products, it's worth understanding the five types of intervention available. They target different parts of the problem.
- Feed removers — replace the algorithmic social feed with a blank page or custom content. You can still visit profiles, search, and message. You just don't get the scroll.
- Site blockers — prevent access to specific sites outright, either permanently or during set hours.
- Metric hiders — remove like counts, follower numbers, view tallies, and vote scores. The content stays; the social comparison numbers disappear.
- Pause injectors — add a deliberate delay before letting you open a social app. The pause is typically a breathing exercise or a question ("why are you opening this?").
- Content rewriters — read the text of social posts and rewrite sensationalist or manipulative framing into neutral language before you see it. Devoke is currently the only extension in this category.
The right tool depends on which part of the problem you're trying to solve.
News Feed Eradicator
What it does: Removes the news feed on Facebook (and optionally YouTube, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, and Reddit), replacing it with an inspirational quote or a blank page. You can still use everything else — messages, profiles, groups. The feed just isn't there.
Honest assessment: One of the most effective extensions in this space, and it's been around since 2012 — long enough to be trusted and well-maintained. It does exactly what it says. The trade-off is binary: if you want to see your feed at all, you have to disable it. There's no filtering or calibration — it's all or nothing. Best for people who have decided they don't need the feed and just want it gone.
Price: Free. Open source.
SocialFocus
What it does: Hides feeds, metrics, and distracting UI elements across multiple platforms — Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube. More granular than News Feed Eradicator: you can hide specific elements rather than entire feeds. Hide the sidebar but keep the feed. Hide like counts but keep the post. It's a UI layer, not a content intervention.
Honest assessment: The most configurable extension in this comparison. If you want surgical control over which parts of the platform are visible, SocialFocus is the right tool. It doesn't change the content you see — just which UI elements appear around it. Excellent for metric hiding specifically. The free tier covers most platforms; a Pro tier unlocks advanced customisation.
Price: Free with paid Pro tier.
one sec
What it does: When you try to open a social app, one sec intercepts the action and makes you take a breath before continuing. A one-second pause, a question ("why are you opening this?"), or a breathing exercise. You can still open the app — you just have to be intentional about it.
Honest assessment: Addresses the compulsive-opening problem specifically, not the feed or content. If the issue is mindless app-opening, one sec is well-designed and highly rated (4.9 stars on the App Store). It's primarily a mobile app with some browser functionality; it works at the app-open level, not inside the feed. It won't help once you're already scrolling.
Price: Free with premium features.
BeTimeFul
What it does: Removes the news feed on LinkedIn and YouTube. Narrower scope than the other tools here — primarily LinkedIn-focused, which makes it useful for a specific problem (LinkedIn's performative, sensationalism-adjacent content is a real phenomenon) but limited elsewhere.
Honest assessment: Does a specific thing adequately. The UI is dated and the extension isn't maintained as actively as the others on this list. Worth considering if LinkedIn is your specific pain point, but News Feed Eradicator covers the same ground more reliably.
Price: Free.
Devoke
What it does: Reads the text of social posts and news headlines in your feed and rewrites sensationalist or manipulative language into clear, neutral language — before you see it. The feed stays. The post stays. The information stays. The engineered outrage framing gets stripped out. A small ◎ icon marks every rewrite; tap it to see the original any time.
Works on X/Twitter, Reddit, 30+ curated news sites, and Google Search results. Also hides vanity metrics by default, and includes a filter intensity control (Light, Balanced, Deep) for how aggressively it rewrites.
Honest assessment: The only extension in this comparison that changes the actual text of what you read, rather than the interface around it. Whether that's the right intervention depends on whether the content itself is the problem for you, or the feed structure. If you want to stay connected and informed but the emotional manipulation of the language is what drives compulsive scrolling, Devoke addresses it at the right level. If you just want the feed gone, it's the wrong tool.
The proxy model (rewrites go through a server) means this is a subscription product, unlike the others. There is a 7-day free trial.
Price: £4.99/month (Basic, 500 rewrites) or £9.99/month (Pro, 2,000 rewrites). 7-day free trial.
Side-by-side comparison
| Extension | Removes feed | Hides metrics | Rewrites content | Platforms | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| News Feed Eradicator | Yes | No | No | FB, YT, X, LinkedIn, Reddit | Free |
| SocialFocus | Optional | Yes | No | FB, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YT | Free / Pro |
| one sec | No | No | No | Mobile apps primarily | Free / Premium |
| BeTimeFul | Yes | No | No | LinkedIn, YouTube | Free |
| Devoke | No | Yes | Yes | X, Reddit, news sites, Google | £4.99/mo (trial available) |
Which one should you use?
The right answer depends on what's actually driving your anxiety. Be honest about it.
If you keep opening social apps on autopilot and want to stop: one sec addresses the opening impulse directly. Pair it with a notification audit (turn off everything except direct messages) for maximum effect.
If the feed itself is the problem — you'd rather not see it at all: News Feed Eradicator. It's the most established and reliable feed remover available.
If you want granular control over which parts of the platform appear: SocialFocus. It's the most configurable option and handles metric hiding especially well.
If you want to stay connected and informed, but the emotional framing of what you're reading is what drives compulsive behaviour: Devoke. It's the only option that changes the content rather than the interface.
If you want the strongest possible intervention: combine News Feed Eradicator (removes the feed) with one sec (adds friction to opening) and Devoke (rewrites content when you do read). They don't conflict.
None of these tools is a complete solution. The platforms themselves are designed to re-engage you — they'll surface new entry points over time, and the underlying compulsion doesn't disappear through any single intervention. The tools work best as part of a broader set of habits around how and when you use social media. But they're a meaningful structural change, and that's more durable than willpower alone.