Our Vision

Technology has taught us to move faster, respond instantly, and measure our worth in metrics. Polaris stands against that current — a reminder that attention is worth protecting and time is worth reclaiming.

We live in an economy of interruption. The average person taps or swipes their phone over 2,600 times a day. Each interruption takes nearly half an hour to recover. Distraction is not a side effect; it is the system.

Technology today fragments attention, rewarding reaction instead of reflection. We became technically productive but spiritually scattered, measured by dashboards that track everything except what matters.

Polaris began with a question:

What if technology could respect attention instead of exploiting it?

We turned to kaamos — the Finnish polar night — when darkness lasts long enough for thoughts to settle and stars finally have room to speak. In that stillness, we found our metaphor. Focus isn't a race against time. It is a space where ideas are allowed to take shape.

Polaris is our answer — and our refusal.

We refuse tools that turn thought into countdowns.

We refuse urgency as the default.

We refuse systems that convert attention into output, into data, into someone else's revenue.

We built Polaris for those who live by their minds: writers shaping meaning from silence, engineers holding fragile abstractions, students reading at 2 a.m., parents reclaiming a moment of clarity. Instead of timers, Polaris offers a visual chronoscape: a dissolving asteroid, marking time as presence rather than pressure.

Polaris is not another productivity tool. It is a return to time as something to inhabit, not outrun. A quiet technology that protects attention instead of pulling it apart.

What we notice shapes what we become. Polaris exists to help you notice what matters — and let the rest fade back into the dark.

We live in an age of engineered distraction. Attention — once a source of depth, autonomy, and creativity — has been commodified, extracted, and depleted. Philosophers like Bernard Stiegler have warned of a collapse of attention, while Byung-Chul Han describes a society burning out under the weight of self-optimization.

Polaris Focus exists as a response.

We reject the logic of urgency that governs our time.
We reject the shallow metrics that reduce thought to output.
We reject digital tools that demand more than they give.

Attention is not a resource to be mined. It is the foundation of imagination, autonomy, and care.

Polaris is part of a movement to reclaim focus from noise — to recover the slow, interior spaces where real thinking happens. Where presence replaces pressure. Where time becomes something to inhabit, not outrun.

Our design philosophy is simple: tools should respect the mind, not exploit it. Silence has value. Attention is an act of resistance.

Polaris Focus is more than a product. It is a refusal — of urgency, of fragmentation, of the inevitability of distraction. It is also a signal: for those who still trust in depth, stillness, and the quiet power of uninterrupted thought.

With Victoria Rork & Anton Tyshko, Co-founders of Kaamos Labs

What is Polaris Focus, and why should anyone care?

Victoria: Polaris Focus is a cognitive time tool designed to help people reclaim their attention. Somewhere along the way, productivity became synonymous with urgency, self-tracking, and pressure to always be “on.” We’re constantly measuring time but rarely experiencing it. That disconnect isn’t just stressful, it’s mentally depleting.

Anton: And it’s rewiring how we think. Most tools push us toward fragmentation and fatigue. Polaris is built to reverse that. It draws from neuroscience to ease cognitive load, using randomized durations and ambient visuals to create a space where focus can deepen – without timers, metrics, or noise.

Was this a response to a problem–or a shift in how you wanted to live?

Victoria: It honestly came from hitting a wall – mentally and professionally. I was working in tech, balancing deadlines, nonstop meetings, and constant context-switching. My days were full but rarely meaningful. Then I had a motorcycle accident. I walked away with a broken bone and road rash – lucky, really – but it forced me to slow down. I started questioning everything – how I spend my time, what real focus even feels like when it’s not wrapped in stress. Polaris came out of that shift. It wasn’t just about building a better tool; it was about changing my relationship with time.

Anton: I can relate to that. I was deep in code, parenting, and a browser full of tabs all competing for attention. Most of the tools I tried claimed to help but they just added more noise. We built Polaris to do the opposite: to create space for real focus, not to micromanage it.

So how is this not just another Pomodoro with prettier colors?

Anton: Most tools chase engagement. Even the minimalist ones still track you, nudge you, reward you. Polaris removes that entire layer. No telemetry. No dopamine loops. Just a session and a symbolic visual progression.

Victoria: There’s no countdown, no alerts. It’s not about squeezing more into your day, it’s about creating mental space to actually think.

Wait–so there’s no ticking clock? How does that even work for productivity?

Anton: That’s right. There’s no visible timer or countdown. Instead, we use a dissolving asteroid as a visual proxy for time. It degrades at a consistent rate, but without numerical markers. This deliberate abstraction reduces time anxiety and minimizes cognitive load allowing users to stay focused on the task, not the clock.

Victoria: Exactly. Most timers create this constant background tension, you’re always aware of time running out. With Polaris, time feels different. You pick a session scale–XS to Mega–and Polaris guides you visually, not numerically. It gives you a sense of movement, but it’s ambient, almost meditative. It’s like working with time, not against it.

You mentioned “session scales.” What’s that actually mean?

Victoria: We got rid of time – at least the way we’re used to measuring it. Instead of setting a 25- or 60-minute timer, you choose a symbolic size: XS through Mega. It’s about shifting your attention away from the clock and toward the actual work. When you’re not counting minutes, you start noticing what really matters.

Anton: Each scale maps to a general time range, but the exact session length is chosen by an algorithm, randomly, within that range. That intentional ambiguity helps break the obsession with precision. It’s not about tracking time, it’s about moving with it.

Alright. But is there actual science behind this–or is this just well-designed intuition?

Victoria: Science. Polaris draws from cognitive neuroscience and flow psychology. It’s grounded in how the brain regulates attention – particularly the Central Executive, Salience, and Default Mode Networks. These systems help us manage focus, filter distractions, and shift between tasks. Polaris is designed to support them. That’s why the interface is so quiet. It’s low-stimulation by design.

Anton: Exactly. Most timers and productivity tools actually disrupt focus. They activate the Default Mode Network, which is linked to mind-wandering, anxiety, and self-monitoring. We wanted to do the opposite. That’s why there’s no countdown, no blinking indicators, no gamified progress bars. Instead, Polaris uses a dissolving asteroid – a slow, symbolic animation that visually marks time without measuring it. It’s subtle on purpose. The whole system is built to protect focus, not pressure it.

Let’s talk about the asteroid. Beautiful, weird, and… slowly falling apart?

Anton: Yes. It’s a metaphor and a pacing device. It fragments and rotates as time passes, giving you a sense of momentum without triggering urgency. It’s not a progress bar. It’s alive, but quiet.

Victoria: And symbolically, it represents attention: finite, powerful, and dissolving when cared for. It reminds you that the moment matters – not because of how long it is, but because you were actually present for it.

Who’s this built for? Besides both of you, obviously.

Anton: We built it for people who do focused, creative, or complex work–writers, coders, researchers, designers – anyone who needs uninterrupted cognitive space. But we also thought about people who were feeling overwhelmed by traditional productivity tools. The ones who’ve tried everything with timers and dashboards, and still feel scattered.

Victoria: And for people who’ve internalized urgency as the default. We heard from so many users who said, “I open a to-do list and immediately feel behind.” Polaris is for them, too–for anyone looking to unlearn the idea that productivity has to feel stressful.

That includes neurodivergent users – those with ADHD, anxiety, or sensory sensitivity – who often find rigid systems more punishing than helpful. Polaris is designed to feel like a reset: no streaks, no grading, no pressure.

Anton: If you’re tired of your tools managing you, Polaris gives you space to focus without pressure or noise.

Let’s be honest – aren’t apps like this just helping people cope with toxic work culture instead of actually challenging it?

Anton: It’s a valid question. Most tools end up reinforcing the very systems they claim to fix–pushing productivity at the cost of well-being. Polaris was built as a counterweight. No targets, no streaks, no pressure. It’s not a treadmill. It’s a pause.

Victoria: An app alone can’t change a broken culture but it can offer an alternative. And when enough people adopt new behaviors, that’s how culture shifts. Polaris creates space to slow down, pay attention, and reset. It’s not about checking out, it’s about showing up differently.

What does the future of Polaris look like? How do you stay true to that original movement while still evolving the product?

Victoria: We’re evolving Polaris deliberately – through feedback, collaboration, and ongoing research. Right now, we’re partnering with researchers and organizations working on time perception, workplace cognition, and digital well-being. These collaborations build on the ideas in our white paper and keep Polaris grounded in both science and lived experience. There’s growing momentum around ethical design in this space, and we want Polaris to be part of leading that conversation.

Anton: We’re also exploring integrations – not to complicate things, but to meet people where they already are. The challenge is always the same: how do we add clarity without adding clutter? Polaris is designed to stay lean for a reason. Every feature has to earn its place.

Okay, be honest – how many productivity tools do you each have on your phone or laptop right now?

Victoria: Fourteen. All in folders, perfectly named. None of them work–but they look productive.

Anton: Nine. Maybe ten. One still thinks it’s 2021.

Victoria: Exactly. That’s why we started with focus. One problem at a time.