A physical timer switch to momentarily allow the unfocused internet.
Turn the countdown timer on. The focused internet LED turns off, and the unfocused internet floods in.
The mechanical timer counts down:
30 minutes.
15 minutes.
5 minutes.
When the timer finishes, the LED turns back on, and the focused internet is present again.
thumb -------> legs
screen -------> space
An experiment in physicalizing the affordances of the Internet.
By making the timer a physical object in my kitchen, far away from my computing devices, habits of distraction that I might have on my computer, or phone, become transformed into physical (and thus spatial) actions.
Instead of swiping to a URL with my thumb, I have to get up, use my legs, in order to turn the timer's knob.
The unit of distraction and unfocus is not in the action of the finger, but of the leg/bodily movement.
The immediate twitch of the thumb is transformed into a larger, full-body kinaesthetic action.
By elongating the action, impulse is transformed into intent.
In other words: You can't twitch your way into distraction; by a distraction necessitating a walk across the room, the room affords more intent in being online.
More information here: