[HN Gopher] Show HN: I built an app to stop me doomscrolling by ...
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Show HN: I built an app to stop me doomscrolling by touching grass
i wanted to change the habit of reaching for my phone in the
morning and doomscrolling away an hour so i built an app to help
me. now i have to literally touch grass before accessing my most
distracting apps the app is built in swiftui, uses the screen time
apis provided by apple and google vision to recognise grass or not
i'd love to get your thoughts on the concept.
Author : risquer
Score : 886 points
Date : 2025-02-24 12:15 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (touchgrass.now)
(TXT) w3m dump (touchgrass.now)
| duxup wrote:
| This is going to be rough up north where I am, too much snow.
| Gys wrote:
| Dark times...
| Etheryte wrote:
| From touch grass to shovel snow for a while and then touch
| grass.
| thruway516 wrote:
| Build startup and exit for +$20m before you can unlock your
| apps for the extra motivated
| hmmm-i-wonder wrote:
| Its all ice and snow outside. I'd be locked out for a while
|
| Then again maybe that would be a good thing.
| moolcool wrote:
| I'm up in icy Canada, but a social media hibernation might do
| me well.
| duxup wrote:
| As fast as some social media circles move I imagine come
| spring it's possible to not understand the context of most of
| what is being posted.
| cjbgkagh wrote:
| Sounds like a good way for a temporary fix to become a
| permanent one.
| alaithea wrote:
| Hibernating? Touch Bear.
|
| You'll never use social media again.
| adverbly wrote:
| Same problem here... Trying to think of some substitutions:
|
| 1. Touch snow
|
| 2. See the sun while outdoors.
|
| 3. Say hi to someone in person.
|
| 4. Text a friend or family member.
|
| 5. Touch a tree.
|
| I think touch a tree would be the most direct substitution.
| Something to be said for a social substitution too though, but
| it probably doesn't match the initial intent of touching grass.
| madmountaingoat wrote:
| Of course no one needs an app to do any of this, but the
| general idea of getting out and touching a tree, climbing a
| snowbank, going out without a coat or hat for a few minutes
| when it's freezing are all the sorts of things that keep me
| happy during in the winter.
| rob74 wrote:
| Besides, depending on your location, touching a tree might
| also be more hygienic than touching grass (e.g. if you happen
| to be in an area used for dog-walking).
| ge96 wrote:
| Make an Instagram of tiny snowmen with different scarves
| risquer wrote:
| I plan on letting the user select what they have to touch, for
| launch it's just grass but customisation is on the way!
| johnmaguire wrote:
| Grab a shovel!
| paulddraper wrote:
| Me too.
|
| Touch snow.
| ewalk153 wrote:
| Nice idea. Would be great to have a winter mode for us that can't
| literally touch grass for 3+ months a year ;)
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| 3 months? Short winters ftw!
| 20wenty wrote:
| I like the idea but it will be hard to build a moat -- if that's
| something you care about. How about making it more general?
| "touch grass", "feel sand between your fingers", "hug a tree" ...
| notachatbot123 wrote:
| Thank you for providing a perfect comment to reply "touch
| grass" to.
| risquer wrote:
| I'm not quite sure what you mean by build a moat, could you
| explain further?
| tredre3 wrote:
| It's startup culture speak to describe something that is
| unique and impossible/hard to copy for competitors.
|
| I think (hope) that 20wenty was being cheeky and playing
| along the all-too-common vibe that every project presented on
| HN needs to become financially successful or else it's a
| waste of time.
| dudefeliciano wrote:
| I love this, the internet needs more of these weird concept apps.
| As another commenter mentioned, perhaps this could be extended
| for people that don't have grass around them due to
| season/location? Touch snow, touch sand, etc
| FollowingTheDao wrote:
| "I love this app that gets me off of my phone!"
|
| "We need more apps!"
|
| Can we just sit and mediate and listen to ourselves grasping?
| dudefeliciano wrote:
| Uhm I think you misunderstood me. What I meant is that I love
| these trivial, fun, silly apps that make the internet more
| interesting. You can certainly sit and meditate whenever you
| want
| risquer wrote:
| Thanks man! I plan on letting the user set what they have to
| touch, it's on the roadmap!
| camtarn wrote:
| This is a hilarious concept and would probably genuinely help.
| Nicely done!
|
| I used to have a similar issue with hiding inside all the time
| (during Covid times, of course) and to motivate myself to go
| outside, I started an Instagram of tiny little plants growing in
| cracks in the pavement. I tried to add a new tiny plant every day
| or two, which meant that I had to wander further and further
| afield to find a suitable specimen. It wasn't perfect, but was
| quite motivating.
| satyarthms wrote:
| I'm a connoisseur of plants growing in cracks in the pavement,
| mind sharing a link?
| InDubioProRubio wrote:
| Bricky roads They trappers grass Stony walls They trappers
| wind Iron stove It trappers fire Trappers is we By the works
| of hands And forgets us We were ever free...
| camtarn wrote:
| https://www.instagram.com/ct_thelittlethings/ :)
| satyarthms wrote:
| Nice pics, very heartwarming and solarpunk!
| camtarn wrote:
| Thank you! <3
| mattcantstop wrote:
| I'd be cool to create a simple template that you could
| repeat for each post in video form:
|
| - The plant - The location (sidewalk, park, etc) - Native
| vs non-native? - Seen as a weed or flower/desirable plant?
| - Who pollinates it.
|
| I just subscribed.
| CincinnatiMan wrote:
| I love the irony here. Going outside into "real life" to find
| pictures to post on a site that keeps people inside.
| Sharlin wrote:
| TBH I don't think Instagram particularly keeps people inside
| given that >99.99% of its users use it exclusively on mobile.
| bentaber wrote:
| Because people don't use their phones at home?
| johnmaguire wrote:
| "[...] the outside world, the non-digital world, is merely a
| theatrical space in which one stages and records content for
| the much more real, much more vital digital space. One should
| only engage with the outside world as one engages with a coal
| mine. Suit up, gather what is needed, and return to the
| surface." -- bo burnham, Inside
|
| https://youtu.be/PSClBFUe-o0?t=26
| thatcat wrote:
| solid bit, but weird transition into pirate maps
| johnmaguire wrote:
| Inside is a feature-length movie filmed during the
| pandemic, definitely worth watching in its entirety if
| you haven't. It's incredibly creative. I linked the video
| at the second of three "bits" performed in a single
| scene. In this scene, he's pretending to be a standup
| comedian in front of an audience, hence the multiple
| jokes. Bo actually previously used the pirate joke in The
| Big Sick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYZ5efCcK_s
| Aurornis wrote:
| From what I've seen, Instagram is better at motivating young
| people to go outside and do things than video games were in
| the 90s or even today.
|
| With Instagram they see their friends doing things and it's a
| reminder that going outside and/or spending time with friends
| is fun. There's a lot of pearl clutching about people getting
| jealous about other people's vacation pictures, but on the
| whole the active Instagram users I know are much more social
| and likely to spend time outside the house than the gamers or
| Redditors. By a wide margin.
| acyou wrote:
| Is this still true though? My gut feeling is that most
| Instagram users are now passive, meaning they doomscroll
| and never post while lying in bed in their parents basement
| while their 20s sail by.
|
| Not so much a stereotype as a reflection of the real people
| I know.
|
| I think we used to see much more content from friends, I
| think the feed is now mostly content
| creators/ads/tiktokified, no?
| lou1306 wrote:
| You do have power onto your own feed (well, limited
| power). I snooze suggestions every month and follow
| basically zero content creators: I'd say 90% of my
| followees are people I've met irl. If I want to
| doomscroll and feel awful, the Explore/Reels tabs are
| more than enough.
| tredre3 wrote:
| > My gut feeling is that most Instagram users are now
| passive
|
| That's just reflective of how the world has always
| worked. Most people are passive.
|
| The point being made, I think, is that Instagram is a
| greater source of motivation to interact with the outside
| world than Reddit/Gaming is.
|
| It sounds plausible enough to me but who knows?
| slyn wrote:
| May have been true when Instagram was a photos app with a
| chronological timeline of only the accounts you follow + a
| few ads. If you wanted to seek content outside of your
| personally curated feed it was in a different tab or you
| would need to search for it.
|
| Now it's a meme-shorts first platform that constantly
| suggests content outside of your follows and non-
| chronologically. You can't opt out of "suggested content"
| pictures or videos in your feed for more than 30 days at a
| time and there is no option to permanently opt out. It's
| not possible to opt out of shorts (reels) suggestions in
| your feed. It's not possible to opt out of meta "threads"
| suggestions in your feed. I just opened the app and 5 of
| the first 11 items in my feed were sponsored ads, and 1 of
| the 11 was suggested "threads".
| risquer wrote:
| I really love that, would you mind sharing the insta?
| JadeNB wrote:
| They responded on another post
| (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43160338): it's
| https://www.instagram.com/ct_thelittlethings .
| JadeNB wrote:
| I wonder how many of us picked up this habit from COVID? It
| definitely got me to appreciate my local flora way better, and
| the fact that I get weird looks for bending down to take
| pictures of tiny little insect and plant life is, well, let me
| be honest, I kind of enjoy being the neighborhood eccentric.
| drivers99 wrote:
| During COVID I'd take a lot of walks, and in a similar way,
| it helped to have some kind of basically useless
| goal/destination in mind. For me it was checking out how
| construction in a nearby park was going, including what was
| happening in a temporary holding pond. I would send "pond
| updates" to my family in other states, which they found
| amusing. I got really interesting in all the different birds
| I was seeing and how the plants were growing. Now that I'm
| downtown, in a more "walkable" place, I don't really have the
| same variety of interesting natural things to see. Maybe I
| can think of something similar.
| camtarn wrote:
| Aw, that's a really lovely goal! A growing pond sounds like
| an excellent walking target - during lockdown I headed to
| my local reservoir quite a few times and just wandered
| around the path by its edge.
|
| I also enjoy watching construction - I feel like in a
| different country and different life, I would have been an
| 'Umarell' (an elderly Italian man who stands watching
| construction sites)
| chasd00 wrote:
| pokemon-go got a lot of people outdoors too. I would see kids
| walking around the neighborhood with their phones out looking
| for pokemon, it wasn't perfect but at least they were outside
| getting some air.
| BigGreenJorts wrote:
| I stand by the meme: that summer was closest we've gotten to
| world peace.
| mateusfreira wrote:
| Can we change it to unblock only when I do 10 pushups? I would
| love to get that to my Nephew and Nieces phone
| simondanerd wrote:
| Is there an Android version coming soon?
|
| Also it would be better if you kept Instagram uninstalled... I
| see it installing on the screenshot!
| mikragor wrote:
| Technically, the icon displays the app as paused from the time
| limit. Once you surpass the time limit using the app, you can
| stop using it or allow you temporarily (1 minute to 15 minutes
| or stop limiting the usage for today) to continue to use it.
| It's a neat option to have this on your phone, but I usually
| keep expanding my time limit more than just quitting the app. I
| think that's what this app is aiming for, allowing you to use
| the app more time requires more effort than 2 taps.
| risquer wrote:
| Soon...ish Android equivalent is hard but it is in the back of
| my mind!
| aeve890 wrote:
| Wdym is hard? Hard like is harder to make apps for Android
| than iOS? Genuinely curious
| feznyng wrote:
| iOS has a system level API for this sort of thing. Android
| does not.
| risquer wrote:
| Yeah you basically need to write your own screen time api
| for android and use the draw over permission - it's going
| to be an interesting build for sure!
| Baggie wrote:
| my neighborhood is very low on grass will tree support be added?
| I like them better and we have a lot more of them
|
| sincerely, Lorax
| szszrk wrote:
| A/B testing. You got a high difficulty variant.
| BobAliceInATree wrote:
| I live in the middle of Manhattan not near a park. There is
| zero grass near me that I would touch.
| basisword wrote:
| Nice idea. I feel like we don't see as many fun/whimsical apps
| these days as we did 10-15 years ago.
| beAbU wrote:
| Geolocate the user to ensure that at least the touching of a
| picture of grass tookplace outside.
| aembleton wrote:
| And then update that location on OSM as having grass
| mhh__ wrote:
| iBeer seems so quaint now
| y-curious wrote:
| Check out this fake lighter app I have
| vitaflo wrote:
| Whimsical doesn't make money and we are a society of sellouts.
| SketchySeaBeast wrote:
| Is it possible that we're not as comfortable as we were a
| decade ago? I'll admit to having no aspirations to make that
| next killer app, but that's because I'm fairly financially
| secure, not wealthy by any means, but a decent paying job
| with a pension, and I know that's a privileged position the
| days.
| vitaflo wrote:
| People always say this but it tends to be the poor broke
| art kids who create some crazy cool shit for the hell of it
| that eventually becomes commodified.
| Ginguin wrote:
| We are a social species living in a world where everything is
| commodified, and to survive means trying to find a way to
| exist in that space. It creates a mindset where even a simple
| hobby needs to somehow create profit, because everything
| around us requires we have and/or create money over all of
| the less tangible things that actually make humans happy.
|
| Some people have the luxury of being able to step around that
| mindset, even if only for a little bit, but there is less and
| less space for just existing.
| robocat wrote:
| Well said. I hear my arty/crafty friends get recommended to
| sell their "works". Thinking of art as an investment is a
| scourge.
|
| Unfortunately money is useful, even if the game of chasing
| it is stupid and can be doomingly addictive. Looking after
| it for retirement is hell and trains one to be tight or a
| gambler.
|
| The worst part is that we all know other things are more
| important than money: most people seem to choose jobs for
| their invisible benefits rather than financial outcomes.
| Our world runs because of our internal goals rather than
| money. The teacher that wants to help their students. The
| taxi driver that just likes to meet people. The engineer
| that strives for perfection. Does Matt Levine write for
| money?
|
| The social incentives are whacko, and the government
| incentives are often insane. I have some admiration for
| those that find a way to get the benefits of society at the
| lowest time costs to themselves.
|
| We fear we live in a purely capitalist world - yet the
| invisible incentives (economic surplus) are what makes
| everything work. The danger of seeing everyone else as a
| money grubber, while knowing that we ourselves are driven
| by better motivations.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| The other factor is that there were too many "whimsical"
| apps, which were mostly variations of drinking beer, iphone
| guns, or fart apps. Apple cracked down hard on those by
| adding rules about similar / copycat apps or low value apps.
| basisword wrote:
| There were lots of those. Back when you could easily sell
| rubbish for 99C/ making copying popular apps possibly
| worthwhile. But there's still latitude for creativity. I
| came across this[1] Mac app at the end of last year which
| decorates your desktop with Christmas lights. Completely
| useless, but very fun and whimsical. I feel like there used
| to be more of this. There also used to be more creativity
| in functional apps too when development was less focussed
| on metrics/engagement. I feel like even the more fun indie
| apps started copying the 'big guys' with complex onboarding
| tutorials, gamification, and upselling. Maybe it was just
| because the platforms were newer and simpler back then.
| Maybe it's rose tinted glasses :)
|
| [1] https://simonbs.gumroad.com/l/festivitas
| thruway516 wrote:
| But when we had fart app everyone said civilization was
| coming to an end
| basisword wrote:
| I don't think that reaction was to the existence of them -
| merely the fact people were parting with money for them to
| the extent that developers were making significant money
| (short-term anyway). "Drinking" a pint, or blowing out the
| flame on a "lighter" were both quite cool moments for
| people when smartphones first arrived.
| bigbuppo wrote:
| It was that brief window of time that ended, partly
| because of the iphone, that technology could be or do
| anything. The world of infinite possibility.
|
| Now that costs $14.99/mo, but if you upgrade to the Pro
| Plus package for $23.95/mo, you get not only the fart
| feature, and the flame feature, but you get the flaming
| fart feature. Requires annual prepayment, otherwise price
| is $39.64/mo, excluding taxes and cost recovery fees.
| thecosas wrote:
| Perhaps not all whimsy, but definitely take a look at
| https://www.creativeapplications.net/blog/ for some
| interesting stuff people are doing out there in the world.
| hathawsh wrote:
| I thought for a moment you were talking about
| https://whimsical.com/, which is productivity suite that
| people depend on for work. I wouldn't want to hear it's
| shutting down! Then I realized you're talking about the
| concept of whimsical things, not a company. Whew!
| risquer wrote:
| Thank you! It's a silly idea but it does actually work for me
| oever wrote:
| Here's a whimsical site I made a few years ago. You can look up
| grasses and other lifeforms and see how they are related.
|
| https://sol.vandenoever.info/?lang=en,nl&uids=119845,135774,...
| blitzar wrote:
| Not a Hot Dog.
| risquer wrote:
| grass
| blitzar wrote:
| Not hotdog.
| FollowingTheDao wrote:
| Fun idea, but not the right way to end an addiction. Making it
| more difficult to get the dopamine (really epinephrine) hit will
| only lead to more frustration and reinforce the relief when you
| get your reward. In other words, it only makes the reward more
| pleasurable.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| What if the author adds some gamification strategies and awards
| the users points depending on how often, long, and diverse
| their grass-touching is, and add an infinite scroll feed of
| other users touching grass, which you can then upvote and
| engage with!
|
| (please sign up to my onlygrass page)
| gradientsrneat wrote:
| Many digital addictions only work due to the fast feedback
| loop. If you break the feedback loop, you can break the
| addiction.
| andy_ppp wrote:
| Okay this might help!
| apriljo wrote:
| What do you do in the winter, eh?
| tsylba wrote:
| I understand it's a meme, but you're not "touching grass" if you
| need the mediation of an app to do so.
|
| It's engineer logic 101, when technically true does not mean
| ontologically true.
| crsv wrote:
| I bet you're fun at parties.
| Chris2048 wrote:
| I think this is understood, and the app is partly satirical.
| bloomingkales wrote:
| What if someone tries to cheat and just touch a picture of grass?
| You need to understand that the no-touch-grass people are
| Machiavellian.
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| You're cheating yourself in that case. Or to put it another
| way, if you really don't want to comply you can just delete the
| app.
| seafoamteal wrote:
| The only person they're cheating is themselves. Any systems
| designed to help you curb phone addictions only work if you do
| the legwork and are in the mindset of wanting to improve. The
| systems are only guardrails to lean on when you're tired. If
| you decide to vault the rails, that's not sustainable in any
| way.
| risquer wrote:
| Yeah, just echoing what people have replied but I did try put
| some safeguards in such as screens - if it detects a screen it
| won't unblock your apps
| Waterluvian wrote:
| I love it. And now I must make a "touching grass generator" to
| plug into the front of this.
| Retr0id wrote:
| See also: https://graas.easrng.net/ - "grass-touching
| verification service"
| risquer wrote:
| TGAAS
| Chris2048 wrote:
| On a tangential note.. Best use of a "touch grass" reference goes
| to Noita devs:
|
| https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1bt7aid/streamer_sp...
| p_ing wrote:
| Dunk is a real gem to watch.
| baxtr wrote:
| Great concept! However my mind started already coming up with
| ideas how to circumvent this like printing out a color picture of
| grass! Hope you can detect these fake attempts! :)
| DisruptiveDave wrote:
| Ya know what, searching for a picture, printing it out, and
| taking a pic in this app = not doomscrolling, so, mission
| accomplished?
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| If you have no intent of using the app, why install it in the
| first place?
|
| But then, the purpose is less about going out and touching
| grass physically, and more about being aware of what you're
| spending your time on. A moment of self-reflection, if you
| will, and whether that's you going outside to find some grass
| or finding where you put your colour picture of grass and
| turning the lights on to get a good picture of it is by the by.
| NalNezumi wrote:
| Awesome idea.
|
| But knowing myself, I'll probably just end up buying a plant and
| put it next to my table and end up using it
| woadwarrior01 wrote:
| Why does the app need to collect location data?
| m_mueller wrote:
| are you telling me it actually checks the GPS coordinates
| against satellite images? ....
| tonyhart7 wrote:
| to locate user location ofcourse
| SSLy wrote:
| 1. Information Collection 1.1 Required Permissions
| Location: Used solely to determine local sunset times; location
| data is not stored or transmitted
| risquer wrote:
| Yeah exactly, thanks!
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| Wouldn't checking the time (which should include TZ data) and
| comparing it with a database be adequate or can you not get
| local timezone data without permissions?
| busymom0 wrote:
| You can get local timezone data without permissions in iOS.
|
| But I think the OP's app is using the location data to
| ensure you walked a few meters to touch grass and not just
| have a patch of grass at your desk.
| SSLy wrote:
| no, the timezones can be very very long north to south
| andy_ppp wrote:
| Presumably you don't need to let the app have access for it to
| work?
| obrhoff wrote:
| Is Hacker News the new Product Hunt?
| nostromo wrote:
| Hacker News was Product Hunt before Product Hunt was born.
| divan wrote:
| Works fine in Finland in winter!
| fandorin wrote:
| great concept! out of curiosity - what tool did you use to create
| the main UI app animation/video on the website?
| risquer wrote:
| It's a screen recording of my phone and then my fiancee used
| canva to do the background
| api wrote:
| Are there any good anti-procrastination Safari extensions for
| desktop? Sometimes it can be hypnotic.
| diamondfist25 wrote:
| Wow what a great idea and all!
|
| Mind if I ask what stack you used for this?
| risquer wrote:
| Sure! It's SwiftUI, Google vision and Screen time API
| dev0p wrote:
| That is fantastic. Should come preinstalled with every phone.
| etothepii wrote:
| One sec was great for breaking my YouTube shorts habit but the
| safari plugin only works 90% of the time and in some way the
| "gambling nature" of hitting reload and getting in sometimes has
| made it worse.
| popol12 wrote:
| Very nice, but why does it require iOS 17 ? Jailbreakers are
| stuck on iOS 16 (and some are stuck even lower than that.. )
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| I can't speak for this app, but every time I use SwiftUI, it
| turns out some basic thing I want, like the component or API
| method that is perfect for my app, was introduced in the latest
| iOS/macOS release. Every single dang time.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| iOS 17 is from Sept 2023, it is considered obsolete. Current -1
| is a very normal and decent support window, and supporting that
| covers >90% of active installations.
| pcthrowaway wrote:
| People are just going to carry a patch of fake grass around with
| them to bypass the checks. So I suspect the reviews will be
| astroturfed.
| dkenyser wrote:
| This gave me a good chortle. Thanks.
| jakelazaroff wrote:
| Maybe the best joke I've seen in ~10 years of regularly
| checking this site, 10/10
| oniony wrote:
| Why bother you when you dye your private turf green?
| not_wyoming wrote:
| /r/angryupvote
|
| :)
| jnsie wrote:
| Brilliant!
| m3kw9 wrote:
| Just google grass pics? The thing is if you are gonna cheat
| anyways you can just not use the app and you "win"
| asystole wrote:
| This is on the order of the "descartes before the whores" joke
| on reddit years ago. Generational stuff
| vladdrak wrote:
| "Fresh Patch Indoor Potty Grass" is going to make a killing out
| of this.
| myvoiceismypass wrote:
| Reviewing this app is a sod job, but someone's gotta do it
| bloopernova wrote:
| I added reddit.com to uBlock Origin's filters list. I can still
| visit it, but there's now a screen asking me if I'm sure I want
| to go there. It's stopped me a few times, and it's breaking that
| muscle memory of "pick up phone & check reddit/etc"
| hartator wrote:
| What about the app?
| bloopernova wrote:
| I have never installed it.
|
| I prefer to access things through a web browser.
| cryptopian wrote:
| I actually found that certain browser equivalents of
| attention sucking apps were poor quality enough that using
| them only through the browser was enough friction to wean
| myself off them. old.reddit.com is especially badly
| optimised for anything other than a desktop screen.
| whamlastxmas wrote:
| For me, it's that I have a million keyword and subreddit
| filters on my desktop computer and Reddit is unreadable
| for me without those filters, so I never read it on my
| phone
| kjkjadksj wrote:
| Old.reddit.com is the only way reddit loads on my se2.
| The actual mobile website just times out with half the
| comments loaded every time. A lot of noticeable lag. It
| is a super heavy site in comparison with old.reddit.com.
| nostromo wrote:
| The reddit app is so bad, it may actually have been designed
| to end addiction to reddit.
| cryptopian wrote:
| A few years back, I realised how bad the addiction was when I
| deleted a couple of apps. While doing other things on my phone,
| I'd autopilot going to the apps list and tapping the empty
| space where Reddit/Twitter used to be. You're right, that
| little bit of friction is enough to make you stop and ask "what
| am I really getting out of this?"
| redox99 wrote:
| Reddit has gotten so bad over the last decade that I've stopped
| browsing it altogether, except for one or two niche subreddits
| every now and then.
| darknavi wrote:
| I am really hoping they kill old.reddit.com so I can finally
| cut it off completely.
| bigbuppo wrote:
| Google+ is still part of my muscle memory. It was such a
| pleasant place when they stopped mandating people use it.
| Lynix48 wrote:
| Funny how even the demo on their website has the annoying "rate
| this app" popup.
| risquer wrote:
| pls r8 5*
| mclau156 wrote:
| I have had an idea like this but instead it is a few minutes of
| breathing exercises with a calm nature background, then it
| unlocks your other apps
| lukeinator42 wrote:
| This is great! A mode for snow would be awesome, haha. Up here in
| Canada there isn't always grass around in winter.
| racktash wrote:
| Fun idea!
|
| I am always astounded how hard it can be to break doom scrolling
| as a habit DESPITE knowing how much better I feel when I can't /
| don't do it.
|
| When I don't do it, I will often spend my time doing something
| personally productive, but even if I do nothing at all instead,
| it's still better - my head is clearer, I can think so much
| better; I feel more content and optimistic about life in general;
| time goes slower.
| saganus wrote:
| Dopamine addiction is very nasty.
| freetonik wrote:
| Very cool concept! I wanted to make a similar thing a few years
| ago, but for a slightly different purpose: force myself to walk
| more. I built an iOS app called Geostreaks [1] with a simple
| mechanic: pick an outdoor location (for example, a nearby park)
| and "check in" there every day.
|
| I couldn't justify the yearly developer fee though, so the app
| has been removed from the App Store a few years later :(
|
| 1. https://appadvice.com/app/geostreaks/1482655198
| ColeShepherd wrote:
| Can you please open-source it?
| freetonik wrote:
| Sure, why not, here it is:
| https://github.com/freetonik/geostreaks
| wiether wrote:
| I'm afraid to ask, but on the demo video... Is that dog poop next
| to the hand?
| risquer wrote:
| just mud haha
| awaseem wrote:
| Damn I love this! how was the process of getting approval from
| the app store? Wondering if you had to send videos instead of
| having reviewers touch grass. I launched Foqos earlier this
| month: https://github.com/awaseem/foqos and the review was brutal
| plus the form you need to submit to get permissions for Family
| activity
| risquer wrote:
| Review was surprisingly simple, no videos or anything needed. I
| submitted at 11PM by 11:30PM it was approved, I've never
| experienced that for a new app...
| awaseem wrote:
| Damn so jealous haha. Love the app happy to support in
| anyway!
| freeone3000 wrote:
| I have a user issue: there is currently 3 feet of snow outside
| and no grass to be seen :P
| zawaideh wrote:
| Can I touch snow instead? There is no grass in sight in Canada
| this time of the year
| jjkaczor wrote:
| Same thought... ("Instructions unclear, all I see around me is
| snow")
|
| Never worry, it will melt when the scorched-earth tactics are
| used...
|
| /s
| NotAnOtter wrote:
| I bit of UX tweaking and this could see a lot of traction as a
| snarky reply, a la "Let me google that for you".
| Oras wrote:
| I had an idea to lock my phone until I burn x calories. So, I
| cannot see notifications or open any app unless I achieve the
| goal. When I checked, it was impossible to do that with Apple,
| It's great to know that you can lock apps, though! I love the
| concept.
| linklater12 wrote:
| This is very cool. Congrats! I love it when apps force you to
| step outside. Pokemon Go was such a brilliant game in this
| regard! Wish we had more apps like this.
| nofunphil wrote:
| Love this. But wonder if it would work better if there was an
| incentive tied to using your phone less, ie. Rewards points for
| staying off socials.
| wkirby wrote:
| This is fun, but there's an amusing oxymoron embedded in needing
| an app on my phone to verify that I'm... not using my phone
| maxehmookau wrote:
| I hate this and I love it. Good work.
| yapyap wrote:
| bro has grass touching IAPa
| lee wrote:
| You can probably expand your user base to Canadians by also
| adding a "touching snow" feature.
| bbarnett wrote:
| A white wall would qualify, so maybe you'd have to pee a letter
| into the snow to unlock.
| aeve890 wrote:
| Nah too easy. Pee a QR code, then scan the QR to validate.
| tsunego wrote:
| Reminds me of Pokemon go
| jjkaczor wrote:
| Instructions unclear, all I see around me is snow...
| wcfrobert wrote:
| This is so bizarre! We live in a world where companies invest
| billions and hire the best researchers all to capture our
| attention and serve ads. And now, to claw back any sort of
| agency, we resort to this.
| awslattery wrote:
| DLC for a dust mode, for those of us in Southern Arizona?
| allears wrote:
| Obviously for urbanites only. Here in Northern California, grass
| is a conspicuous waste of water, and is slowly going out of favor
| and being replaced by native xerophilic plants. Our neighbor has
| a lawn, but we've got wood chips and native shrubs instead.
|
| If we all acknowledge that nature is an antidote to anxiety, why
| not consider moving out of the city?
| tibbetts wrote:
| Needs a mode where touching snow counts.
| KMnO4 wrote:
| Just don't doomscroll until spring.
| layer8 wrote:
| Google for "indoor grass".
| alaithea wrote:
| I was thinking the same. Grass is hard to come by in my neck of
| the woods right now. Maybe "touch bark?"
| parsimo2010 wrote:
| Imagine going to a ski resort and being locked out of your apps
| in the evening because everything is covered in snow.
| harrison_clarke wrote:
| fun idea
|
| i'm not going to see any grass for another few months, unless i
| travel somewhere warmer, though
| twothamendment wrote:
| It might be awhile before I can touch grass. There is quite a bit
| of snow on the ground!
| ahmadtbk wrote:
| Spending many hours not touching grass to build an app that makes
| you touch grass. I like it.
| archon810 wrote:
| If by many hours you mean probably 30 minutes in ChatGPT, then
| yes.
| moontear wrote:
| How is it blocking other apps? Is it creating apple shortcuts
| which go through this app as a launcher?
| gdiocarez wrote:
| What the ....
| yssrnjm wrote:
| App not recommended for Canadians. Unless someone makes a 'touch
| snow' plugin.
| redeux wrote:
| Same for people who live in the Southwest US, unless someone
| makes a 'touch dirt' or 'touch cactus' plugin.
| luxuryballs wrote:
| I was thinking about this recently and was trying to determine if
| I could take advantage of some kind of accessibility settings or
| otherwise to contextually/periodically disable the gestures that
| doom scrolling depends on entirely, on fly.
| Over3Chars wrote:
| In San Francisco, touching grass is a hazardous activity.
| ColeShepherd wrote:
| I would love an app with a configurable "unlock" task. Ex:
|
| - Do a quick mindfulness/breathing exercise.
|
| - Answer a quick quiz question related to something you're
| learning.
|
| - Remind you of pending to-dos
|
| Anyone know of an app like this?
| rvb wrote:
| > - Do a quick mindfulness/breathing exercise.
|
| Clearspace does exactly this:
|
| https://www.getclearspace.com/#how-it-works
|
| I've been using it for a month or two, with good results. Good
| luck!
| djyde wrote:
| I wrote a chrome extension for this a year ago
| https://dengtab.com/
| hexatin wrote:
| For iOS, Screenzen is an app that does this:
| https://apps.apple.com/us/app/screenzen-screen-time-control/...
| yieldcrv wrote:
| What I would love is social unlock, where your friends have to
| approve or deny your requests
|
| I didn't realize there was a screen time api! I was waiting on
| Apple to do it, now I'll have to do it and wait for Apple to
| commit an antitrust violation and do it after it gains traction!
| namuol wrote:
| Cute, but it might be time to ditch your smartphone if you really
| want to change.
| izhak wrote:
| I live in Finland. Any chance I can get a "touch snow" option?
| Thanks.
| tonymet wrote:
| very creative. what would it take to make it function offline?
| yobananaboy wrote:
| This is sick! Is it using an LLM's photo detection to determine
| if it is a picture of touching grass?
|
| I recently added all of my most distracting apps to the Hidden
| section on iPhone. It requires a FaceID check to even see the
| apps, and blocks all notifications from them. It has helped me
| cut down on the scroll-time significantly.
| risquer wrote:
| It's using Google's vision api - so Machine Learning but not
| LLM
| begueradj wrote:
| What if you live in the Sahara or a dry country ?
| brailsafe wrote:
| Maybe they need to add the option of touching cactus or sand?
| hyperific wrote:
| Kudos on getting your project from conception to the finish line!
|
| The concept of having to interact with the natural world before
| being allowed to interact with the social media world is
| interesting and this is perhaps the most interesting
| implementation of that.
|
| Personally I find it's rewarding to flex the "self restraint
| muscle" by stopping _myself_ from doomscrolling rather than
| relying on technology to do that for me.
| adaboese wrote:
| Hilarious!
| mig39 wrote:
| Love it!
|
| How does it handle -20oC in snow-covered Northern Canada? :-) Can
| I touch fake indoor grass?
| divbzero wrote:
| What happens if it's the middle of winter and the grass is
| completely covered with snow?
| kayson wrote:
| How is it that an app can block access to other apps?
| n2d4 wrote:
| It uses an API that lets developers customize the "shield"
| screen that is shown by Screen Time
| https://developer.apple.com/documentation/ManagedSettingsUI/...
| benfarahmand wrote:
| three's 2 feet of snow on the ground. there's no grass. what do i
| do? can we get an update to touch snow?
| silisili wrote:
| Keep a little patch of turf on the table next to your armchair,
| and you can touch grass without ever even getting up.
| zuluonezero wrote:
| No thanks my closest grass is covered in dog pee!
| Yhippa wrote:
| This is great, OP. For someone like me who is addicted to my
| phone in the house, it would be nice if there was some arbitrary
| object at the opposite side of the house I could touch to trigger
| this.
|
| Anybody here know an Android equivalent of this?
| vlucas wrote:
| I feel bad for all the folks who live in Arizona...
| MisterSandman wrote:
| Or Canada... during the winter at least.
| speerer wrote:
| I wish you all success and hope that this catches on. I will make
| a fortune by selling little pots of turf to social media addicts.
| rainpl wrote:
| Can you make a desert version to touch some rocks?
| aqueueaqueue wrote:
| This is great! No good for urban junglists though. Or maybe
| really good for them, depending on how you view it.
| HPsquared wrote:
| Touch the grass, not the glass.
|
| Or, "Don't touch the glass!"
| scosman wrote:
| Canadian here: I look forward to using my apps again in April.
| stego-tech wrote:
| Great concept, solid privacy policy and terms of service, and an
| excellent use of premium purchases to support rewilding projects.
| Absolutely love it!
| rightbyte wrote:
| Interesting concept. I would say not being able to touch grass
| when it is covered in snow, like right now, might be a feature.
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