I've been using AI coding tools heavily for the past year+ (Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor) and started noticing patterns in my own work that bothered me.

The loop: feed a prompt → get partial result → tweak → re-prompt → get closer but not right → "just one more try." Look up, it's 2 AM. Six failed refactors behind me. The code isn't even better than what I had at 10 PM.

As someone with a background in behavioral research, the terminology mapped uncomfortably well: variable ratio reinforcement (same mechanism as slot machines), near-miss effects ("almost worked, let me just adjust the prompt"), dark flow (timeless absorption without agency), session escalation.

So I built a self-check quiz grounded in this research: https://ontilt.dev

**To be clear:** this is NOT a clinical diagnostic and I'm NOT anti-AI. I use these tools every day and they make me significantly more productive. But I think we need to talk about work hygiene the same way we talk about sleep hygiene. The tools are great. The loops we fall into with them sometimes aren't.

Curious if other experienced devs recognize these patterns, and what strategies you've developed to manage them. Have you set boundaries? Time limits? Or do you not see this as an issue at all?