We are hooked to social media and the number of likes/hearts each post receives. Our urge for a quick dopamine hit keeps us glued to any network. This is where the new app Palmsy comes in.

The app doesn’t have any advertisements and the goal is simple: It lets you post to a "social media network" packed with followers who don’t exist. Here’s how it works. You are given the option to create a post like you would on, say, Facebook or Instagram, complete with photos. Under “Advanced Options” you can choose the number of likes you want, from one to 20, which can be received over a few seconds, hours or days.

The “posts” you make exist only with you and are not for anyone to see. That’s about it. Users who find it difficult to work with journaling apps may find Palmsy inspiring. It’s for those whose social posting habits have gone out of hand or for those who want to take a break from social media.

Developer Pat Nakajima said on Threads that no post leaves your device and all likes are fake. To ensure the “likes” you get are from people you know (thus making the app effective), Palmsy needs to read your contact list and assign pretend likes. While the app is reading your contact details, no information is sent to the server as all posts are local.

“It can be fun to see Likes coming in from folks you haven’t thought about in years. It can also be useful in maybe deleting some contacts you might not need anymore,” Nakajima writes.

Available for iPhone and iPad, there are other time-limiting apps to reduce social media addiction. For example, there is Opal which helps individuals monitor and manage their screen time usage. A few years ago, former Google Reader product manager Jason Shellen gave Brizzly as a website, which lets you put anything in a text box and hit send. But the posts go nowhere when you send them.