This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 1: Touch Grass

unScroll — Stop Scrolling. Start Living. 🌱

What if the best app was the one that made you close it?

We open our phones for a minute and somehow lose an hour scrolling. Meanwhile, the world outside keeps waiting.

That's the problem I wanted to tackle with unScroll — an AI-powered application designed to help people step away from endless scrolling and reconnect with the real world.

What I Built

unScroll turns digital detox into an experience built around real-world missions.

Its core philosophy follows three stages:

• Attract: Discover a mission that encourages you to do something meaningful.
• Release: Put your phone away and experience the moment.
• Reward: Return, reflect on the experience, and build your progress.

Whether it's spending time in nature, exploring your surroundings, or connecting with people, the goal is simple: less time consuming content, more time creating real-life experiences.

Instead of competing for your attention, unScroll gives you a reason to reclaim it.

Demo

🌐 Try unScroll

Code

💻 Explore the GitHub repository

How I Built It

I approached unScroll with one principle: AI should encourage action in the real world, not keep people glued to another screen.

The project uses Gemma 2 and open-weight AI as part of its mission-driven approach. The application is designed around generating real-world challenges, applying safety rules, and encouraging users to step away from their screens.

The experience follows a simple loop: discover a mission, step away from the screen, and return to reflect on the experience.

Why Does Open Innovation Matter?

If AI is going to shape how we live, we should have the freedom to shape how AI works.

Open-weight models make it possible to experiment, customize model behavior, and build experiences around specific goals rather than relying entirely on closed APIs.

For unScroll, that goal is different from the usual engagement-driven application: help people spend less time online and more time living offline.

Open innovation gives developers the freedom to explore that idea and build technology around human well-being.

My Agent Session

I built unScroll using Gemini 3.1 Pro in the Antigravity IDE, leveraging AI-assisted development to help build and refine the application.

🔗 Project repository and code

Prize Categories 🏆

• Overall Grand Prize ($250): Using Gemma 2 and open-weight AI to rethink the role of technology—helping people step away from screens and reconnect with the real world.
• Best Use of Render ($200): Hosting the application on Render, bringing together the FastAPI backend and React frontend.
• Best Use of ElevenLabs ($200): Voice-driven mission briefings and audio playback that help users engage with their missions while minimizing screen interaction.

We have enough apps fighting for our attention.

Maybe it's time to build one that helps us give that attention back to the world.

unScroll. Stop scrolling. Start living.