The nightly fight is gone
“We used to argue about the laptop every single night. Now the nudge does that part, and I get to just be her mom again.”
Rebecca Hsu
Parent of a 9th grader
For parents of tweens & teens
Locking down the laptop just makes kids better at the workaround, not the work. Hubbub coaches focus that holds when you're not in the room.
Built for real school nights.
“We used to argue about the laptop every single night. Now the nudge does that part, and I get to just be her mom again.”
“After a couple of weeks he started noticing when he'd drifted before anything even popped up. That's the whole point, isn't it?”
“My son watches class lectures on YouTube. Every blocker we tried treated that like goofing off. This one knew the difference.”
“An assignment that used to swallow the whole evening wraps up before dinner now. Same kid, far fewer rabbit holes.”
“I didn't want to police her browser history. We look at the focus picture together on Sundays and it's honestly a nice check-in.”
How the coaching works
It steps in only when it should, nudges instead of blocking, and builds a focus habit that outlasts the app.
It knows real work when it sees it
Hubbub analyzes the screen, not just the web address. The class video is left alone and only real detours get a nudge.
Coming soon · add their classes for sharper callsReal homework gets left alone.
Earned, not rationed
A solid stretch of homework earns a short break. Hubbub unlocks it, runs the timer, then eases them back to the work. You don't need to be the one rationing screen time.
25 min of focus earns a 5 min break. You stop being the one rationing screen time.
The habit, not the hour
A streak worth keeping and focus tracking. Glance at it together and watch the habit take hold. It watches patterns, not slip-ups, helping them find their rhythm.
Day, week, or month. Good days counted, never mistakes.
Who it's for
Coaching works for tweens and teens: old enough to build the habit, young enough for it to stick.
Their own machine, and no instinct yet for staying on task.
Genuinely doing homework, somewhere under all the other tabs.
The kid whose screen time is one big gray area no blocker can untangle.
Coaching vs. lockdown
Lockdown apps make your kid the opponent. You already know how that ends.
| Your concerns | Lockdown & monitoring apps | Hubbub |
|---|---|---|
| What does it do? | Block and monitor | Coach and nudge |
| How does it know what to block? | Tweaking blocklists and schedules | Reads what's on the screen |
| What does my kid learn? | How to beat the blocker | How to catch themselves |
| What happens when you're not in the room? | Focus stops when the blocking does | Focus holds on its own |
| What do I end up with? | A distraction blocker | A kid who can focus on their own |
On their side
Hubbub does one thing: help your kid focus on the laptop where the work happens. Here's exactly what that means.
Honest answers
The opposite, really. It doesn't report on your kid or feed you their activity. It coaches them, on their own screen, to notice when they've drifted and come back. A skill they keep, not a leash you hold.
Not yet. Hubbub is for the Mac or laptop where homework actually happens. We'd rather do one thing well than half-cover everything.
They can, and the bet is they won't want to. It's not a cage to escape; it's a coach that makes focusing the easier choice. Lockdown tools start an arms race the day they're installed. This is the opposite.
Probably not yet. Coaching works once self-awareness can take root, around the tween years. Younger kids usually need simpler, firmer limits first.
Get early access while Hubbub is free in the beta.