How to Get Digital Wellbeing in Chrome on Desktop
Staying productive has always been a challenge in the presence of social media and other distractions whether you are a mobile user or a computer user. Google already knew the havoc of distractions so they did launch Digital Wellbeing for Android devices to let users know how preoccupied they are with their mobile phones. Apps from other developers like Forest made mobile users earn trees by staying away from their phone. Sadly, these options were not available for computer users. But not until now when independent developers like MindHero launched an extension called MindHero that not only combines Digital Wellbeing and Forest, but also serves its purpose for providing breathing exercises. I have been using MindHero since December 13th, 2020 and I have some thoughts to share. This extension is available in Chrome Web Store. You can download it by visiting this link:
When you install this extension, it will change your default New Tab page to the one that is hosted by this extension. Don’t worry, the New Tab Page of this extension looks exactly like that of Google Chrome. With additional tabs like Hero Mode and Breathing Break. The New Tab page also has two other skins which can be accessed by clicking on the shirt button located at bottom right corner. The other two modes for the New Tab page are Minimal and Focused modes with their own set of settings. You can also change the background of the New Tab page. You also have the ability to add To-do lists and track duration within the New Tab Page.
Hero Mode
The Hero Mode of this extension works like Forest. It restricts you to be focused on your goal. When it is activated, it blocks distracting websites like Facebook and YouTube, and plays a nice ambient noise. There are 7 noises to choose from. If you dislike ambient noises, you can mute it right away. When you finish Hero Mode, you are rewarded with tomatoes per 25 minutes. You can also increase or decrease the tomato reward duration. You can choose to block sites before turning the Hero Mode on.
Breathing Break
The third page in its New Tab Page of this extension is breathing exercise. There are two durations for the breathing exercise. One is of 2 minutes and the other is of 5 minutes. When breathing break is activated, a female voice will guide you through the process of breathing. Just like in the Hero Mode, you can change the ambient noise on the fly in breathing break. Moreover, this extension shall prompt you to take a breathing break when you use your computer for long.
Daily Reports
One of the amazing features of this extension is the Daily Report of how much time you have consumed on a certain site. The daily report is presented in two ways. This report is attached directly to the New Tab Page at the top right corner with an estimated time of your productivity, formally called Dashboard.
The full version of daily reports can be accessed by clicking on Daily Report shortcut in the New Tab Page. The Daily Report Page gives you a complete report of your productive or distracting or neutral usage of the internet of a specific day. You can label more sites as productive or distracting as per your needs as well. The report also enlists the number of continuous productive sessions along with the duration of the longest productive session.
Preferences
The Preferences setting of this extension is pretty basic. You can add your name to get a slightly personalized experience. You can edit your working days and hours. So far, this extension is only available in English and Chinese language.
Some Shortcomings and Suggestions
This extension has brought the cherished productivity tracking capabilities to every device that can run the desktop version of Chrome or any other Chromium-based browser or even Chrome OS but not without shortcomings. For instance, the Sign-up via E-mail did not work when I tried to activate this extension. I had to continue via linking this extension to my Google Account. Also, I found a typing mistake that might arouse suspicion in the users of this extension. As for the suggestions, I would like to recommend,
1. A Dark Mode must be added to save our eyes from strain.
2. Weekly and Monthly reports must be added to keep track of our productive and distracting time on a weekly and monthly basis.
3. The number of accumulated tomatoes must be displayed in the Daily Report.
4. When Hero Mode is turned on, it should block incoming notifications from distracting sites.
If you have some suggestions to improve this extension, make sure to comment down below.
Final Thoughts
MindHero is surely a useful addition in the world of extensions. This extension helped me a great deal to stay focused on my tasks without being distracted by the sites on which I waste my time. If you are also looking for a digital assistant for productivity give this free extension a fair chance.
