Touch Grass started with a very literal interpretation of something people say on the internet.

You’ve been online too long. Go outside. Touch grass.

So I made a website where you could do exactly that. Digitally, anyway. It was a little meadow, with grass that moved as you ran your cursor through it. You could open it, play with it for a minute, and send it to someone else who probably also needed to go outside.

That was the beginning: a joke you could move your mouse through.

Then people started asking for the link

I posted it on X, and it went viral.

The post that started it all. View on X

People laughed at the idea, but the most common response was a request for the link. They wanted to try it themselves.

There’s something lovely about that. You make a patch of pretend grass, put it on the internet, and other people want to spend a bit of their day in it.

So I kept going. The website became the starting point for something people could come back to during their working day.

Why turn it into something more?

I spend most of my days behind a screen. Building Touch Grass is part of that too, which makes the name fairly easy to make fun of.

When so much of your day happens on a computer, a break can easily become another tab. You stop working on one thing and immediately start looking at something else. The timer might say you’re resting, but there’s still plenty competing for your attention.

That gave the meadow a purpose. It could be somewhere to go when it was time to pause.

The Pomodoro rhythm gave that idea a simple shape: work for a while, take a break, repeat. The meadow gave the break somewhere to happen.

I wanted to make an app that made you want your breaks, with something to look forward to when the timer ran out.

A little meadow for your working day

Touch Grass is now becoming a Pomodoro app for your Mac and iPhone.

On your Mac, a timer sits in the menu bar while you work. When it reaches zero, the meadow takes over your screen for a few minutes. There’s grass to touch, a butterfly to catch, and a world to spend a little time in.

Finish a break and you earn vitamin D. You can spend it on things for your meadow: flowers, a lantern, a hot air balloon. As you keep taking breaks, you can unlock new places too.

I like the idea that a small habit can leave something behind. Take a break today, add something to your meadow, and find it there when you come back tomorrow.

And yes, you should still go outside. Touching grass on a screen is still looking at a screen. The app is for the hours you spend at your desk. The real grass is still out there, and I’d be happy if this reminded you to go find some.

Still growing

Touch Grass is in beta. There are things to finish, details to get right, and plenty that will change as people use it.

This blog will be a place to share that process: what I’m building, why I’m making certain choices, and what happens when people get their hands on it.

For now, you can try the meadow and follow along on X. If you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them. People asking for a link are the reason this kept going in the first place.

See you in the meadow,
Jeroen