Want to use your phone less? Try Forest. “Whenever you want to stay focused, plant a [virtual] tree. Your tree will grow while you focus on your work. Leaving the app halfway will cause your tree to die.”
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Brilliant idea.
It really creates some stakes where other, similar apps do not.
The same developer also has a similar app that's focused on better sleep. https://sleeptown.seekrtech.com/
I've been using Forest off-and-on since *checks* 2016. The only "friction" app that ever makes me feel BAD for skipping past it.
I used Forest weekly for a few years but eventually switched over to Freedom which has website and app firewalls and better mechanisms to block distractions. Regardless of all the carefully curated filters and synchronized desktop/phone tools, I'm still prone to just quitting the app to access whatever news/social/game link I suddenly can't see in the moment. This post made me recall how much I hated killing the tree or preventing the garden from growing in Forest. Might be worth revisiting.
On iOS, you can make an Automation in Shortcuts that only applies in a specific Focus.
So I made a new Focus called Jail and in there an automation that watches for an app, like Reddit, to be opened and then immediately goes to the home screen.
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