You want to know how I know that humans as a species are doomed? We need apps to stay off our apps. (When I say “we” here I do mean we, so if it sounds like I’m on my soapbox, know that it is only to get a better view into the mirror.) We cannot simply put the phone down to focus on a task, which isn’t entirely our own fault mind you. With every app buzzing for attention, it’s damn near impossible to know if that vibration was an urgent text message or if Yelp is just checking in, making sure you know that food still exists.
Thus the only way we can extricate ourselves is by employing the very same trick that apps use to keep us scrolling: gamification. That is the thrust of Focus Friend, a new productivity app that rewards you for not picking up your phone. Now, why is Sprudge, a coffee publication, talking about a productivity app, other than that those who manage the website are in deep need of it? Well, because your little Focus Friend can be a cute coffee bean. Which makes me kinda sad that the whole point is to not look at him.
Designed by Hank Green, Focus Friend kinda feels like if chillwave was Animal Crossing was a productivity app. The general idea is this: you’ve got a little bean buddy that lives inside your cellphone and they just love to knit. The problem is, every time pick up your phone, you disturb their knitting and they miss a stitch. That alone I think is enough to keep many folks from doomscrolling, because the idea of upsetting a cute bean friend—who, yes, has a buttcrack—enjoying their analog life, it’s just too much. Sure I’ll wreck my own brain with blue light, but someone else’s peace? No sir.
But if you’re a monster who has no trouble disturbing someone’s knitting, then perhaps a little gamification may help. If you allow your character to finishing their scarf or socks or sweater or whatever it is they are creating, then the two of you—you and the bean—can sell it for things to help furnish their cute little cottage.
And if THAT doesn’t do it for you, then what if your bean friend weren’t a bean at all but a seed? A coffee seed. Because this is an app, whose purpose is to make money, there are all sorts of add-ons to you can, Pro plans, etc. And one of them is the Bean Pack, which, incorrect nomenclature aside, is where you’ll find a coffee skin for your little buddy. There’s also a Kit-ney Bean skin, which is a cat that is a bean, as well as a few jellybean options. And if you’re wondering if, after you completed you focus time, does your bean friend have a little coffee while on break, the answer is yes, yes they do.
It’s all deeply cute, and I’m not to proud to admit that this very article was written while my good buddy Drupe was needling away. I want to check on him. I hope he’s doing alright. I should check on him, right? Is there an app that will keep me from checking on the characters in my productivity app?
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
