Did you have fun on Saturday night? Did all that “fun” show up on your Facebook page Sunday morning?
The great thing about social media is the ability to constantly share updates with friends and loved ones. The problem with social media is the ability to constantly share those updates, no matter your mental state.
(More on TIME.com: See pictures of Facebook headquarters.)
Google has attempted to help for a few years now; its Gmail Goggles feature forces drunk users to answer math problems before sending late-night e-mails. (TIME tested it back in 2008.) But these days, a drunk tweet or status update gets to much more people than a simple e-mail.
That’s where the Social Media Sobriety Test comes in. The test, sponsored by Webroot Software, is a Firefox plugin that allows you to set hours to block access to sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. Try to get on Facebook during your set hours and the plugin will subject you to a test. To access the site, you must pass tests including typing the alphabet backwards, following a circle with your cursor and indicating whether a light on screen comes from the left or the right.
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There’s a major problem with this plugin, though. NewsFeed installed it and attempted to let it block Facebook for an hour or so. Keep in mind, this was at 2:00 p.m, and NewsFeed isn’t the type to get sloshed at work. (We swear, boss.) And yet it took us a solid five minutes and countless tries to pass the test. Perhaps we’re just caffeine-deprived or plain uncoordinated, but that seems far too difficult for its own good. If we wanted to send a quick late-night e-mail, completely sober, it would be too frustrating for its own good.
(More on TIME.com: See what booze looks like under a microscope.)
Perhaps the Sobriety Test puts too much faith in sober people. But its general premise certainly works; a drunk person could never get through. But tipsy users beware — there’s an option to broadcast your drunken fumblings on Facebook, with a message saying you’re too intoxicated to post. Make sure to hide that from Mom. (via Urlesque)