The words techno-brain burnout might not roll off the tongue of most people, but anyone who has spent too much time in front of a computer screen absorbing too much information for too long knows what those three words are all about.
"There are a lot of things people do online that they don't know impact their mood and physical condition," says Mark Ostach.
Ostach knows all about it, which is why solving that problem is the focus of his new startup,
mymentalspace. The TechTown-based company has created a Web browser plug-in that helps prevent people from falling down the proverbial Internet rat hole of wasted time, energy and physical well-being. The plug-in prompts everything from inspirational quotes to calming photos/videos to outside help from a friend when someone tries to click on a Website they know they shouldn't visit when they're trying to get something done.
Ostach plans to launch the Beta version of mymentalspace's product in January. The 2-year-old startup is targeting general consumers with this new product. Think a large cross section of people struggling with Internet addition, ranging from people who spend too much time on social media sites to online porn addicts. People can sign up to participate in the Beta launch today by clicking
here.
"We'll get back to them at the beginning of the year," Ostach says.
Mymentalspace has a team of six people working on the project right now. Ostach hopes to get a foothold for the product in Detroit and spread its use from there with a couple of million users within the next year. If that happens he expects to turn four of those team members into full-time employees. Ostach is also working with TechTown to land some grant money to continue studying how to deal with Internet addiction.
Source: Mark Ostach, CEO & founder of mymentalspace
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at
SEMichiganStartup.com.
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