Seeing the forest for the trees

Blocking distractions using the Forest iOS app

The year was 2018 and I was in the thick of it; I was really starting to feel the stress of graduate school. I had a few manuscripts in the balance and was trying to write grants alongside a dissertation proposal. I was also a teaching assistant. When I would walk into my office every morning, I knew that I needed to make every minute count of that day if I were to make any real progress on my goals.

But I had recently discovered Twitter (I know, super late to the game), and found myself compulsively checking my phone. I noticed that this incessant phone checking would happen when I hit a road block in writing or a difficult decision I needed to make during data analysis. I would go from staring at one screen to just take a “break” by staring at a smaller one. Minutes would go by and I’d come to the realization, “Shit! You are supposed to be working!” and I’d get back to it. 

The more I did this, the more I became cognizant that these phone breaks were causing more anguish than good. Every time I’d check Twitter I’d see a friend of mine Tweet a new paper of his or a researcher post her acceptance to a post doc position. “All these people are making progress, why aren’t I!?” I thought as I would race back to my work. I needed to make a change.

After a quick internet search, I found an iOS app called Forest advertised to help block distractions and focus on tasks. At this point, I was desperate for a solution and paid the $1 for the app. 

Forest works like this; when you need to get something done, set a timer for how long you would like to focus. The timer ranges from 10 minutes to 2 hours; you decide! Once set, a virtual sapling is planted. The process is simple; at the end of your timer, a beautiful tree will grow and blossom from your sapling. The longer the timer, the larger and more beautiful the tree.

There are different trees you can choose to plant; my favorite trees were the Chinese Pine, Treehouse, and the scarecrow (not a tree but definitely a fitting option in October). The Forest app tracks your stats and you can see your weekly/monthly/yearly progress in a large forest where all your trees live. You can earn coins and purchase different varieties of trees, or donate your coins to a good cause. Forest will plan a real tree on Earth! 

A screenshot of my forest from the year 2018. It’s full of scarecrows, Chinese pine trees, and candy trees!

Where’s the catch? If you unlock your phone Forest will give you 5 seconds to put it down OR ELSE YOUR TREE DIES! At first, I was quite skeptical that the possibility of a virtual tree dying would prevent me from using social media, but I was wrong. Building large and diverse forests with fully grown 120 minute trees became a huge motivator for me. There were many times where I would pick up my phone unconsciously to use it, see the warning from Forest, put the phone back down, and continue working. 

The Forest app saved me during graduate school; I definitely finished my dissertation faster because of it! For those like me who check their phones unconsciously looking for that hit of dopamine, I recommend Forest as a fun motivating app the helps with focus and productivity.