If you’re a smartphone user like I am, you know how addicting your cell phone can be. It’s so hard to not spend hours flicking between a couple of social media apps, reading tabloid articles, texting away, and taking Buzzfeed quizzes. I know the feeling, trust me. Typically, I’m the kind of person who holds technology in high esteem, and I’ll debate with any crotchety old technophobe who tells me that my phone and computer are rotting my brain cells. The Internet and the world of text messaging are both incredible and they can offer so much entertainment and be such an important learning resource. Unfortunately, spending too much time on either of them is not conducive to getting those A’s you need for your classes. I used to have a lot of trouble balancing my phone and my homework. Luckily, however, one of my camp friends recommended the Forest app to me, available for only 99 cents on the App Store. I don’t usually like buying apps, but believe me, this is well worth the investment.

Exactly what is the Forest app? The short answer is that it’s a study tool which keeps you off of your phone, but the way it does so is ingenious: You set a timer and hit the “Plant” button, which causes the timer to start to tick down. A small bud appears on your screen, and as the timer ticks, this bud will grow. If you leave the Forest app, the timer stops, and the bud will die. However, if you leave your phone on the Forest app (and hopefully do your work), you will have grown a tree once the timer is finished. The size and complexity of the tree depend on how long your timer was.

The psychological power this tactic has is multi-faceted. You obviously don’t want your tree to die, and that’s incentive enough to go till the end of the timer. Also, the satisfaction of knowing that something is growing and coming out of your work, as well as the reward of having the tree at the end, is another push to keep off of your phone. Even if you do glance at the app all of the time or try to watch your tree grow, motivational phrases such as “Don’t give up!”, “Do your work!”, “Keep working!”, and “Hang in there!” flash across the top of your screen, which I find helps me put my phone right back down.

It gets better even, though. When your timer ends, not only has your tree grown, but you’re also rewarded with a certain number of coins. The number, obviously, increases with the length of the timer. These coins will quickly accumulate into a quantity you can use to buy other types of trees and bushes which you can grow on the app, and for a couple thousand coins, you can even plant a real tree in India or Africa if you would like. The gratification you receive from earning and spending coins on this app is another motivator to set a timer and study.

In my life, this app has grown beyond a study tool. There are so many times when I want to set my phone down, but just can’t bring myself to do so, like when I want to go to sleep or get some reading done. Forest is perfect for those moments. I can set a quick ten-minute timer to get myself to sleep, or stretch it to 45 minutes when I have the time to read. I’ve even set it to a couple of hours in order to stay off my phone while my family eats or watches movies together. Also, as a writer, there is nothing better than a half-hour timer so I can churn out a little therapeutic poetry or put something down in my journal for the day.

The extent to which Forest has influenced my thought processes is actually remarkable. I used to answer texts the second I got them, almost with a sort of manic urgency, as though the world would end if I didn’t answer right away. Getting texts during class would make me squirmy and impatient as I waited for the teacher to turn away from me so I could whip out my phone and tap out a quick reply. Now, whenever a text appears on my lock screen while my Forest timer is ticking, it forces me to tell myself that the text can wait —  and usually, it really can. (Unless it’s from Mom. In that case, the tree kind of has to die. Always respond to Mom. Always.)

The point is, this app is worth the buy and worth actually using, because it influences life outside the grasp of school as well as life within. I hope other students can get the same pleasure and satisfaction that I have out of it. It’s so much more than a study tool, and it deserves more recognition and users.