In this chapter, I explore the multifaceted gamified digital disconnection within the technology-driven context. Forest, as a productivity app pioneering a gamified approach to foster focused work, embodies a paradox of using apps infused with game design elements to aid users in their quest for digital disconnection. Employing the app walkthrough method, drawing on disconnection and gamification research, in this chapter I critically examine Forest’s game design elements, and the paradoxical role disconnection plays in a hyperconnected context. Three primary game design elements – game feedback, social connectivity, and real-life contribution – are identified as facilitators of disconnective practices in the app. These game design elements encourage users not only to optimise their own disconnective experiences but to compete with peers and contribute to nature. The indicated work may, at times, seem to contradict the app’s intended goals, making distractions, fostering social connections, and potentially greenwashing rather than blocking distractions, promoting individual disconnection, and greening the environment.
The author is funded by the Department of Media and Communication at University of Oslo, and supported by the project “Intrusive media, ambivalent users and digital detox (DIGITOX)” (2019–2024) funded by the Research Council of Norway (grant no. 287563).