Skip to main content

If screens always showed a faint live reflection of your face, average screen time would drop.

· 3 min read

Ever wonder what would happen if your phone screen doubled as a mirror? Imagine scrolling through memes while your own face gives you the side-eye, or watching TikTok videos only to notice that you’ve been sporting the “I just woke up” look for the past three hours. The idea is simple: a subtle, faint reflection of your face constantly visible on the screen. It’s not a glare, just a gentle reminder that you’re in front of a screen, and that could make us all a little more mindful of our digital habits.

Below you’ll find the original Reddit post that sparked this thought, followed by some of the hilarious replies that went down. We’ve kept the comments intact (no usernames) and added a <!-- truncate --> marker to separate the post from the comments, just like the site’s native format.

This was everyday life with CRT monitors; it was annoying but with correct light placement it could be mitigated.

You are right. CRT glare was common and people moved lamps to fix it.

My point is not glare. It is a steady, faint mirror by design. Not bright. Not annoying. Just visible enough to trigger self‑awareness.

You cannot fully tune that out, so some people would stop sooner.

Imagine scrolling through memes while your own face gives you the side‑eye. Suddenly, that TikTok dance doesn’t seem so appealing when you’re staring at your double chin.

Imagine scrolling through TikTok and suddenly realizing you’ve been making the “I just woke up” face for three hours. Screen time would drop faster than my willpower at a buffet.

That sounds less like a shower thought and more like an insult.

If we made phones show a faint reflection of you while you’re using them, would we all finally stop scrolling?

I’d be like, “Okay, I can’t use my phone because my face is judging me.”

Then the phone would just get brighter and brighter until you actually had to put it down.

Oh, and if you’re trying to hide your double chin, the phone will let everyone know.

“That’s a shame, your face is now literally on screen.”

Imagine scrolling through TikTok and suddenly realizing you’ve been making the “I just woke up” face for three hours.

Screen time would drop faster than my willpower at a buffet.

TL;DR: The only way to beat binge‑scrolling is to stare at yourself while you scroll.

TL;DR – A faint on‑screen mirror might just be the ultimate anti‑addiction hack. Because honestly, who can scroll past a selfie‑the‑world‑is‑watching?