February 18, 2026
Baby data vs Big Data
When interfaces become disposable
Dad makes his own sleep app; commenters say personal computing is over and demand real repair
TLDR: A new dad built a custom sleep tracker with Fitbit data and an AI helper, treating it as “disposable” personal software. Comments exploded into a debate: is personal computing dead, are companies monetizing identity, and should open data access let users customize instead of getting locked into one app interface
A sleep‑starved new dad couldn’t get Fitbit’s one‑long‑sleep view to handle newborn chaos, so he vibe‑coded his own dashboard using the Fitbit API (an app “doorway” to data) and an AI helper. He calls it “disposable software”—a personal interface that’s useful now, not a sellable product later. Cue the comment section turning into a street fight over who really owns our tech.
The loudest mic drop: “The era of personal computing is over.” AndrewKemendo paints a big picture where capital bets on mega data centers and private internet, not your laptop—hello, mainframe vibes and Starlink name‑drops. gotwaz goes for the gut, warning “Interfaces strip away Identity,” arguing companies profit by packaging who we are. Meanwhile, toss1 rallies the feel‑good crowd with a Right to Repair spin: if you can access data through an API, you can truly customize; if your value is just a locked‑in interface, good luck. jauntywundrkind channels cyberpunk with “The street finds its own uses for things,” nodding to Burning Chrome and dreaming of plug‑and‑play systems that stitch together all our little throwaway apps. Jokes flew—“Right to Nap,” “DadOps,” and “sleep dashboards are the new baby monitors”—but the mood was clear: this isn’t just a cute dad hack; it’s a preview of tech power shifting from polished apps to personal, messy, made‑for‑me interfaces.
Key Points
- •The author’s fragmented sleep as a new parent exposed limitations in the Fitbit app, which expects a single nightly sleep session.
- •They built a custom interface using Fitbit’s public API, assisted by an AI coding agent, in one to two hours.
- •The tool visualizes daily sleep patterns and investigates nap timing, post-sleep fatigue, health impact, and cumulative tiredness.
- •Insights included severe nighttime fatigue linked to circadian rhythm, insufficient afternoon nap length, and persistent daily tiredness.
- •The author frames the tool as disposable personal software and distinguishes platform capabilities from interfaces, declining to productize it due to limited audience and missing MVP features.