How many times a day, on average, do you think you check your phone? Thirty, maybe 40? Last year, researchers at Nottingham Trent University tracked usage among a group of volunteers and found that people tended to check their phones about 85 times a day – twice as much as they think they do.

Additionally, research indicates that we can become addicted to our devices, growing anxious and moody when we’re separated from them. Now, step away from the phone and get yourself some inner peace with the Forest app.

Forest gamifies time spent not checking your phone. Plant a (virtual) tree and leave it to grow, uninterrupted, for 25 minutes. Do this enough and you are rewarded with a forest of willpower. Breaking the 25-minute sanction results in a dead tree. Just before you give in, the app asks you: “Are you sure? This will kill your little cute tree.” You’ll be wracked with guilt.

http://www.forestapp.cc/