Forest for Chrome

There are few things more difficult than avoiding distractions while browsing the web. Video hosting websites and social media, in particular, can prevent you from staying focused on the task at hand.

Forest for Chrome comes with a neat solution for helping you stay productive when using Google Chrome, and a similar extension is also available for Firefox users. It lets you plant a seed that will only grow if you avoid certain blacklisted websites, giving you that extra motivation you need to focus on what is truly important.

When you plant your first seed, you can specify how long you wish to let it grow. Naturally, you will end up with a more impressive tree if you give it more time, provided you can avoid distractions for long enough.

Once the timer has been started, you will not be able to visit any of the blacklisted websites without killing the tree. If you can stand having the little sapling on your conscience, you can just give up and reset your progress.

A few well-known time-wasting sites are included in the blacklist by default, but you can add as many as you wish. However, it would have been great if the extension prevented you from removing any websites from the blacklist while a tree is growing, as this is an easy way to visit one of these sites without killing the plant.

It is worth noting that certain pages can also be added to the whitelist, making it possible for you to visit them even if the domain itself has been blacklisted.

While Forest for Chrome can be used for free, without installing the Android or iOS apps, you will not be able to unlock more trees without creating a paid account in one of these mobile applications.

However, if you are willing to give them a go, you will see that Forest for Android and iOS offer a bunch of additional features that are not available in the Chrome extension, such as detailed statistics and rewards.

Overall, Forest for Chrome is a neat extension that can make it a lot more fun to stay focused on your work. Just plant a seed, avoid blacklisted websites, and watch it grow into a glorious tree.