I built an app to stop me doomscrolling by touching grass
153 comments
·February 24, 2025pcthrowaway
asystole
This is on the order of the "descartes before the whores" joke on reddit years ago. Generational stuff
jakelazaroff
Maybe the best joke I've seen in ~10 years of regularly checking this site, 10/10
not_wyoming
/r/angryupvote
:)
oniony
Why bother you when you dye your private turf green?
jnsie
Brilliant!
null
m3kw9
Just google grass pics? The thing is if you are gonna cheat anyways you can just not use the app and you “win”
dkenyser
This gave me a good chortle. Thanks.
camtarn
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.
CincinnatiMan
I love the irony here. Going outside into “real life” to find pictures to post on a site that keeps people inside.
johnmaguire
"[...] 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
thatcat
solid bit, but weird transition into pirate maps
Aurornis
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
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?
satyarthms
I'm a connoisseur of plants growing in cracks in the pavement, mind sharing a link?
camtarn
mattcantstop
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.
satyarthms
Nice pics, very heartwarming and solarpunk!
InDubioProRubio
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...
risquer
I really love that, would you mind sharing the insta?
racktash
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.
freetonik
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 :(
basisword
Nice idea. I feel like we don't see as many fun/whimsical apps these days as we did 10-15 years ago.
beAbU
Geolocate the user to ensure that at least the touching of a picture of grass tookplace outside.
aembleton
And then update that location on OSM as having grass
Monetu26
[dead]
vitaflo
Whimsical doesn’t make money and we are a society of sellouts.
Ginguin
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.
Cthulhu_
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
There were lots of those. Back when you could easily sell rubbish for 99¢ 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 :)
SketchySeaBeast
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
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.
risquer
Thank you! It's a silly idea but it does actually work for me
bloopernova
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"
cryptopian
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?"
hartator
What about the app?
bloopernova
I have never installed it.
I prefer to access things through a web browser.
cryptopian
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.
duxup
This is going to be rough up north where I am, too much snow.
adverbly
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
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
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).
risquer
I plan on letting the user select what they have to touch, for launch it's just grass but customisation is on the way!
hmmm-i-wonder
Its all ice and snow outside. I'd be locked out for a while
Then again maybe that would be a good thing.
moolcool
I'm up in icy Canada, but a social media hibernation might do me well.
ge96
Make an Instagram of tiny snowmen with different scarves
johnmaguire
Grab a shovel!
Etheryte
From touch grass to shovel snow for a while and then touch grass.
Gys
Dark times...
wcfrobert
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.
etothepii
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.
Oras
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.
Baggie
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
A/B testing. You got a high difficulty variant.
BobAliceInATree
I live in the middle of Manhattan not near a park. There is zero grass near me that I would touch.
woadwarrior01
Why does the app need to collect location data?
SSLy
1. Information Collection 1.1 Required Permissions
Location: Used solely to determine local sunset times; location data is not stored or transmittedCthulhu_
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
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.
risquer
Yeah exactly, thanks!
andy_ppp
Presumably you don't need to let the app have access for it to work?
tonyhart7
to locate user location ofcourse
m_mueller
are you telling me it actually checks the GPS coordinates against satellite images? ....
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.