It is a very 21st century conundrum. You have 15 minutes in between meetings. Or you’re trying to fall asleep. Or you are just bored in the middle of the day. And in those moments, you have a decision to make: Do you reach for your phone and aimlessly scroll?
Roots, an Atlanta-based startup, has a platform to help make that decision easier. The app is designed to help users set boundaries in the digital world in a tangible way that is often not provided on other screen time control options on the market.
We last caught up with founder and CEO Clint Jarvis when Roots launched its beta test in late 2023. Now in summer 2024, the team is fully launching its platform. The app is now bringing users data-based insights, a digital dopamine tracker, and a “Monk Mode” option to help people get serious about mindful phone usage.
Lessons Learned Through Beta
Building anything in the B2C (business-to-consumer) space is difficult. The app space is crowded, and finding customers online is difficult.
But it is a world that Jarvis knows well. Jarvis previously founded gottaGolf, a B2C social golf app, which was acquired by Connecticut-based golf technology and media company SwingU in 2017. He went on to co-found Intown Golf Club, a private social club that has become a go-to retreat for golfers. He initially launched Roots early in 2022 as a nature-based mindfulness app that encouraged users to spend more time outside.
Jarvis said he still learned and iterated on through the app’s beta testing. Listening to early adopters, the Roots team learned that it is not enough just to “offset” screen time. For the app to be impactful, it needed to offer in-the-moment alternatives to stop someone from endless scrolling. That led to creating the personalized list of “redirects,” which can remind users of important alternatives to getting on social media several times a day.
Jarvis said his list of personal redirects tells him to pick up a book and read for ten minutes or take his dog for a walk instead of opening up a social media app.
Another important change? Jarvis said the team learned that “friction” can sometimes be a good thing. With “Monk Mode,” users set screen time limits that cannot be overridden. Jarvis said it has become one of the app’s most popular features. It is also rolling out a physical scroll stopper for premium subscribers that works as a “speed bump” to mitigate endless scrolling.
Importantly, Roots also has focused on bringing more actionable data. That includes giving people a “personalized balance score” around how they are using their devices. That score is similar to what smart watch users might find with sleep scores, Jarvis added.
Finally, the team has introduced a better way to track “digital dopamine.”
It is based on the concept that not all screentime is equal. An hour reading an ebook or magazine is different from mindlessly scrolling Twitter. These new insights built into the app can help users be more mindful about the ways they use their devices every day.
