+++ hook = "In search of an alternative to BreakTime. The discovery of a very classical solution." location = "San Francisco" published_at = 2014-02-02T18:15:28Z title = "BreakTime Classic" +++
A few years ago I took the plunge and started using BreakTime.app. For those not familiar with it, BreakTime is a small application designed to periodically force you to take a break from what you're doing on your PC. It starts a timer (configurable, but ~20 minutes), and when that expires you're shown a full-screen modal that forces you to take a break for the duration of another timer (~2 minutes). In an age of non-ergonomic Apple keyboards and eye-straining glossy displays, the importance of getting some brief respite from the hours spent in front of a glowing screen can't be overstated. My eyes certainly thanked me when I started using it.
BreakTime is a great concept, but its propensity to obscure the top right quadrant of my screen while I was trying to type commit messages, finally drove me crazy enough to start looking for alternatives.
{{Figure "Me trying to commit; BreakTime running interference." (ImgSrcAndAltAndClass "/assets/images/breaktime/commit.png" "Me trying to commit; BreakTime running interference." "overflowing")}}
(This would happen all the time.)
A separate issue is that BreakTime doesn't have a lot of sympathy for you or the work that you're doing. Whether you're in the middle of a video call, desperately handling a production incident, or cranking away at your latest feature while deep in the zone, it will yank you out to its modal; the choppy transition animation a symbol for its callous enthusiasm.
I'm happy to say that I've found a far less invasive solution. It makes me feel like a luddite, but manages to keep itself out of my daily work routine while at the same time reminding me that it's time to take a few minutes of R&R. As a bonus, I get a beautiful piece of industrial design to decorate my desk, and the warm knowledge that I'm living by the same technology that Magellan used to circumnavigate the globe.
{{Figure "BreakTime Classic, or the timeless hourglass." (ImgSrcAndAltAndClass "/assets/images/breaktime/hourglass.jpg" "BreakTime Classic, or the timeless hourglass." "overflowing")}}
For those interested, this is a very basic $16 30 minute black sand hourglass available via Amazon.