In today’s attention economy, social media platforms, entertainment apps and news feeds all compete for our focus.
Millions of people have turned to focus apps in response to help them be more productive while studying or working. Some of these apps help us manage our attention by blocking distracting apps or websites.
Whether it’s growing a virtual tree in Forest or locking down social media with Apple Screen Time, these apps promise to help us “regain control.”
Unfortunately, if you’re neurodivergent, these digital distraction blockers may actually make you feel worse about yourself, according to our recent research at the University of British Columbia.
Inflexible designs
Neurodivergent individuals, who make up an estimated 10 to 20 per cent of the Canadian population, are people whose brains work differently than most. They have conditions that include attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.
For post-secondary students, this percentage is likely higher, as fewer than half choose to disclose their neurodivergence — meaning these focus apps fail to support a significant population of users, including many who may benefit from them most.
While distraction blockers aim to help, we found that their inflexible designs often clash with the ways neurodivergent individuals think and focus. These apps fail to consider their distinct strengths, like hyperfocus, and can unintentionally deepen feelings of shame and inadequacy around their ability to be productive.
(Forest)
Focus isn’t a faucet
Most distraction blockers assume there’s one “right” way to focus: set a fixed amount of time where distractions are blocked, sit still and immediately get to work until time’s up. For example, the popular Pomodoro Technique encourages people to work in uninterrupted, distraction-free 25-minute blocks.
However, for many of the 27 neurodivergent students we interviewed, focus doesn’t work like a faucet that can simply be turned on and off. Neurodivergent individuals may struggle with organizing and carrying out tasks (executive dysfunction), sensing the passage of time (time blindness) or feeling overwhelmed by busy environments (sensory overstimulation) — all of which can make starting tasks and entering a state of focus particularly challenging.
At the same time, some students with ADHD described entering rare and hard-won states of hyperfocus that can take longer than the commonly assumed 25-minute focus block to reach.
A few students with anxiety shared that focus timers cause stress rather than soothe it.
Digital stimming
Perhaps our most surprising finding was that some neurodivergent students intentionally turn off their blockers to look at distractions.
(Unsplash/Sanket Mishra)
While a neurotypical perspective might view this as a failure of willpower, for our research participants it was a vital self-regulation strategy. We refer to this alternative pathway to focus as “digital stimming.”
Inspired by the repetitive, soothing behaviours known as stimming often seen in neurodivergent communities, digital stimming involves engaging with familiar, predictable digital content, like a favourite YouTube clip or social media feed, to manage cognitive overload and ease transitions into difficult tasks.
But turning off blockers comes with a catch: the same content that was supposed to soothe can just as easily lead to doomscrolling. Existing distraction blockers offer no support for a middle ground.
The shame of a ‘crutch’
These frictions with their blockers remind neurodivergent students of how differently their minds work. Several of our research participants said they often feel shame when using distraction blockers, especially when they don’t meet their own standards for productivity or when they compare themselves against others.
One participant told us that the amount of time they could stay focused in apps like Forest became a shameful point of comparison.
Others worry about becoming dependent on blockers, like a “crutch,” and asked if they have to use these apps “for the rest of their lives,” reinforcing their feelings of inadequacy.
Empowering designs
If we want distraction blockers to truly include and empower all users, we need to move away from the all-or-nothing approach of current tools. Our findings suggest three ways to re-imagine future distraction blockers:
1. Support curated digital stimming: Blockers could provide familiar, soothing content that fits neatly into a set amount of time for digital stimming, helping users settle their minds without falling into doomscrolling.
2. Use task-based rules over timers: Distractions could be blocked until a specific goal is met (for example, “until I write two pages”) rather than setting arbitrary time limits for focus.
3. Use scaffolds, not crutches: Blockers could be framed as a way to build personalized growth and self-acceptance through affirming language that normalizes fluctuating focus.
(Kevin Chow), Author provided (no reuse)
Focus apps are currently designed as if everyone’s minds should work the same way, but they fail to help neurodivergent people. Focus apps should adapt to us, not the other way around.
With better designed tools, we can empower people to focus without making them feel guilty for needing support.
Marvel Hariadi, an undergraduate student in business and computer science at the University of British Columbia, co-authored this article.
