Starting Cold Turkey, or Seeing the Trees through Forest
By a UNC student
Surprise, surprise: I sometimes (or always) get really distracted while trying to study. Yes, CHEM102L is important, but Instagram is more fun, right? I’ve been even more distracted than usual as I complete my online summer courses! Fortunately, I have two awesome programs for phones and laptops that help me stay on track for as long as I need. Cold Turkey and Forest have been (virtual) life savers.
Turkey Tech is the cutting of edge of turkey calling and hunting technology. Under the guidance of three-time Grand National Champion turkey caller, Scott Ellis, you will be able to hone your turkey calling skills and better know how to use them while hunting so you can flat out kill more turkeys. Which Platforms Can Cold Turkey Work On? Cold Turkey can block websites on Macs and Windows computers. At one point Cold Turkey had an Android app and ios app but its no longer updated. Its due to system limitation which I can vouge for since I have my own Android app. Apple and Google has a strict set of rules for developers so I can.
Cold Turkey Procrastination app Created by Cold Turkey Software Inc. I use the new Mac version extensively. About Cold Turkey Oct 2013 Helpful Not.
Cold Turkey
Cold Turkey is an app that I installed on my computer at the beginning of the summer. I first discovered this program from a friend. He kept talking about how he had installed a great app to help him write his dissertation. I knew then and there that I had to give it a try.
There are three versions of Cold Turkey, each made for different purposes.
To do so, you need to learn a programming language. Want to create your own app? It’s called.Released in 2014, Swift’s continues to grow. https://golwizards.netlify.app/how-to-create-a-mac-app-in-xcode.html. Fortunately, Apple has a language for writing apps for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and you can have fun learning it, as well.
- Cold Turkey Blocker: This version is a standard block-site. With it, I specify certain websites or applications to “blacklist” for a certain period of time. This means that, no matter how hard I try, I cannot access these sites and apps during the period I’ve blocked off. If I need more help at certain times of the day, I set a recurring timer–that paper won’t write itself at 2 PM, after all. I also use it during Zoom sessions, because, to be honest, sitting on my laptop during a lecture isn’t exactly conducive to paying attention. I block myself from all social media and even Excel because, if I don’t, I’ll begin planning out my life (no joke) in class. Using Cold Turkey, I force myself to pay attention and take meaningful notes. The app also has a “Frozen Turkey” mode, which blocks access to everything on the computer. Dramatic as that may be, it helps me take a nice break from the screen.
- Cold Turkey Writer: Writer gives me a blank text screen with no option to exit until the time I’ve set runs out or until I type a certain number of words. For my online classes, I used this option to help me finish my weekly forum posts. I would turn on Writer, set the words needed to 300, and be quietly forced to write 300 words if I ever wanted to exit the screen. Forum posts have never had such high stakes!
- Cold Turkey Micromanager: This is a relatively new program, so I haven’t used it myself. Micromanager does the opposite of Blocker: it “whitelisting” sites and applications. You make a list of sites or applications that you want to use, and, until I reach my goal, I can only use these, nothing else. Need to make a PowerPoint presentation? Now I can use only PowerPoint for a certain amount of time.
I love this program, and I plan to keep using it for my upcoming classes. The app is definitely intense, even Draconian. I’ve found that, by shutting off the locking feature, I can make the experience less harrowing. Sometimes discipline is a good thing, though.
Forest
No app is one size fits all. So even though Cold Turkey has improved my productivity, I’ve also kept an eye out for other apps that can help me focus. I like Forest precisely because it isn’t as “harsh” as Cold Turkey–I can easily override it. What’s more, it saves the Earth while I use it. How to remove a bullshity app on macos windows 10. Forest has both an app for phones and a browser add-on for computers.
Unlike Cold Turkey, Forest doesn’t block certain sites or apps on the phone version. Instead, by using the app, I grow a cute, little, virtual tree for a specified amount of time (anywhere from fifteen minutes to two hours). There’s a catch, though. If I leave the app early, I kill the tree. Anytime I open my phone to check an irritating iMessage, I receive a notification that my tree is moments away from dying unless I return promptly to the app. Put in a positive way: the more time I spend focused on my tasks, the more trees I plant. I’ve always found studying with others useful, and this tree-growing solution also has a partner function. Now that my study partner and I are apart, we plant trees–and work–together. If one of us kills a tree, both trees die. The app even lets me buy new types of trees with the coins that I’ve earned from growing other trees. Virtual trees don’t interest me nearly as much as real trees do, and Forest lets me use my coins to plant up to 5 real trees in the real world!
The browser add-on is really nice, too, because it blacklists and whitelists websites. Plus (a tip for anyone who decides to use Forest), by having both the add-on running and the app running, I can earn double points! Double points, double trees. The only thing the add-on doesn’t do is block applications. For that function, I have to use Cold Turkey.
Beyond schoolwork, I love using this app to stay mindful and attentive of the people around me. When I’m with family, I hate feeling tethered to my phone. Forest helps me focus on the people I’m with while I grow some trees.
These two apps have been great additions to this college student’s life, especially now that I’m working from home. I think that, sometimes, technology is the solution to technology. In particular, these two programs have helped me gain control of my time and have helped me appreciate my surroundings. I think we could all probably do with more of both, right now.
This blog showcases the perspectives of UNC Chapel Hill community members learning and writing online. If you want to talk to a Writing and Learning Center coach about implementing strategies described in the blog, make an appointment with a writing coach or an academic coach today. Have an idea for a blog post about how you are learning and writing remotely? Contact us here.
A few weeks ago I reviewed a software program called FocusMe, which helps you focus on what you’re supposed to be doing at the present moment by blocking out distracting websites and applications for a specific period of time. I liked FocusMe, except that it didn’t allow you to set a timer until a certain time, it only allowed you to set your timers for a specific length of time. Also, I could only use it for free for a little while, then I would have had to pay for it if I wanted to keep using it. So I did some research and found another focus program called Cold Turkey – I’ll review it in this post.
How does Cold Turkey differ from FocusMe?
Cold Turkey App Reviews
As I just mentioned, Cold Turkey allows you to block distracting websites or applications until a certain time, rather than a specific length of time. So if you know you’re going to write until 12 pm, for example, you can set up a timer for writing by first choosing the websites and applications you want to block, and then setting your timer by first choosing the hour and then the minutes. I like this because if you do want to work until a specific time, you don’t have to figure out how long you’ll be working like you do with FocusMe. Keep in mind as you set your timer that times after 12 pm will be listed in 24 hour time, so 1:00 is 13:00, 2:00 is 14:00, and so on.
What are the downsides of Cold Turkey?
You can use the program completely free – however you can only block websites with the free version, not applications. However, if you want to buy the program, it’s only a one-time charge of $19. Also, Cold Turkey doesn’t run in the system tray like FocusMe does – you have to keep the program open in the background in order to use it. Another downside of Cold Turkey is that as far as I can tell, at least, there’s no way to cancel the timer once you’ve started it if you need to get to a website you’ve got blocked in an emergency. Other than that, I think it’s a great program – I like it a lot better than FocusMe, and will probably eventually buy the full version so I can block applications as well as websites.
How do I download Cold Turkey?
If you’re interested in trying the program, you can go to https://getcoldturkey.com/ to download it.
Cold Turkey Download
I hope this review has been helpful – if you’ve used Cold Turkey, feel free to comment below with your experiences.