Touch Grass, Not Glass: a camera that only works outside

Description and use

The Touch Grass, Not Glass app reduces screen time during outdoor walks by presenting a single audio‑read quest and deferring AI processing to a local Gemma 3 model, producing a field‑journal‑style summary at home.

Problem

Users want to spend more time outside but are distracted by screens and app features that encourage prolonged phone use.

Outcome

The app successfully reduces screen time during outdoor walks by presenting a single, audio‑read quest and requiring a tap to confirm a find, with all processing deferred to a local AI model that runs offline. Users receive a field‑journal‑style summary at home, encouraging mindful observation.

Workflow

• 1. At home, load the film and select a destination (park, trail, garden, etc.).
• 2. Gemma 3 (running locally via Ollama) generates six one‑sentence quests tailored to the month, time of day, and location.
• 3. Outside, the screen goes nearly black; one quest is displayed and read aloud; the user taps "I found it" after taking a photo.
• 4. The photo is stored locally in IndexedDB and no preview or feed is shown.
• 5. Back home, tap "Develop" to run Gemma 3 on the laptop; the model processes each photo, writes an observation, verdict, title, field note, and species guess.
• 6. The app stamps each frame as FOUND or NOT QUITE and compiles the walk into a field journal page.
• 7. The app tracks minutes spent with the screen on during the walk and displays this number after the walk.
• 8. Optionally export the roll to another device for development.
• 9. Review the journal and repeat the process for future walks.

Evidence

At home you tell it where you're going (a park, a trail, your garden, the street, the river) and Gemma 3, running on my own laptop, writes you six small things to find.

Source

Outside, the screen goes almost black. You see one quest at a time, it reads it out loud, and there's one button: "I found it".

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Back home, you develop the roll. Gemma looks at each photo, writes down what it sees, decides whether you actually found the thing, and gives the frame a little specimen title and a two line field note.

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The app keeps one number: how many minutes you spent with the screen off. No streaks, no leaderboard, no likes.

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