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Gamification for ADHD: This week's experience with Forest

This week I learned about an app, called Forest, from an academic mom group and immediately had to try it. Here is a really good review all about the app by Amy French. I did spring for the $1.99 paid version that allows you to connect with friends...

This is a perfect example of gamification applied to staying on task, which is a primary problem for those of us who struggle with ADHD.

Elements of gamification that the app uses includes points (leaves) earned for minutes spent on task. This is measured by not being able to toggle to any other app on the phone. One of my friends already pointed out that a browser version would be more helpful for her and guess what?!? The developers of Forest have a free Chrome extension you can use.

For every block of time spent on task/off your phone (25 minutes is the default setting), your forest grows a tree and you earn points. With points (leaves) you can buy (unlock) special privileges, background music/sounds, and different types of trees to plant. Another feature the app includes is a leaderboard to compete with both friends and other users internationally. As you use the app for blocks of time over days, you can earn badges (achievements) and share these accomplishments over social media.

My favorite features of the app aren't actually aspects of games. Instead, I appreciate all the data that they gather. You can visualize your time spent on task as the forest with trees or as a bar graph of minutes per day, week, month, etc. You can also see your daily timeline with your blocks of time tagged however you wish. For example, I can see how long I spent actually grading online assignments that I thought would take a lot longer. My other favorite feature is the group accountability part. You can invite other users into a room to plant trees together. If anyone leaves the room, the tree dies! This is my forest after using the app for 3 days:

Here is the timeline as a bar graph:
 Here is the distribution of focused time showing that I am much more productive in the morning hours:
 Here is the distribution of the types of tasks I have been working on:

So far it has really helped me stay on task for things that I am not intrinsically motivated to do, including grading and even blogging at times. Would you be willing to try this app game? If so, please add me (mcarrastia@valdosta.edu) and maybe we can help each other stay on task.
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