With the rise in awareness of self-care during the COVID-19 pandemic, mobile apps gained significant traction as they combined the two aspects of what people sought: a captivating experience right on a cellular device and self-care.
Since discovering my interest in psychology in high school, the concept of self-improvement and mental help being readily available in game form on my phone left me intrigued. I cycled through about four different apps, giving up and dropping them after a few uses.
Maybe it’s because of my horrific attention span, or perhaps I’m not easily impressed, but after discovering the app “Finch” about a month ago, I realized just how significant a well-developed app can be when it comes to mental health support and a fun logbook of good habits.
The gist of the app is this: you have your adorable (and customizable) little bird character who goes on daily adventures to “grow up,” physically and personality-wise. They can only begin their adventure if they have enough energy points gained each day by completing personalized tasks like brushing your teeth, stepping outside, taking a stretch break and even cooking a meal.
For even more motivation, the game includes a daily-changing shop exclusive to in-game currency, which is also gained by completing tasks and challenges. This aspect adds to the character customization and decorating of your birdie’s home to make the app feel more game-like instead of just a forced checklist.
Additionally, you can add your friends on the app to visit each other’s homes, gift each other items that remind you of them and send pre-written messages like virtual hugs, words of encouragement and gratitude. Finally, there is a tab called “first-aid kit,” which has a collection of things you can do when feeling low, like naming emotions and breathing exercises.
There typically is a loophole for apps like “Finch,” which you may even be thinking of: checking off the tasks to receive the in-game benefits without actually doing them. The beauty of this app is that every task is fully customizable, which means you can receive the same points for getting out of bed as you do for going on a run.
Through its cute rewards, the app encourages users to complete the task rather than cheating. Also, it is not required to do every task to enjoy the game’s features! It’s always comforting and even more encouraging in the long run to see my bird’s growth mirror my own. Helping my bird, whom I humorously named “Stinks”, grow directly reflects the hard work I am putting into my self-growth.
The first step for me was actually wanting to take control of my life and all the tasks that come with it. “Finch” was just a medium of encouragement and progress tracking that proved helpful in allowing me to see the instant results of practicing self-care, and this was especially motivating since getting started on my self-improvement journey was so challenging.
As a busy college student juggling a seemingly endless list of responsibilities, an app like this helps me stay on track with my actual self as opposed to my work-centered self, who is always worried about which assignment to get started on next. From a gentle reminder to drink water to receiving a big virtual bird hug from my dearest friends, I highly recommend giving “Finch” a try if you’re looking for something like this.