Today technology has integrated into our lives for pretty much everything. And when it’s smartphones and the internet have become part & parcel of our lives. One can access to the digitally constructed world in a few taps. Be it meeting new people, doing business, forwarding money, our emotions; it is being used in almost everything we do.
And in the current scenario, we are simply glued to it for passing our time. However, long hours of activity on smartphones lead to changing behavioral patterns among people. Here, 'Digital Wellbeing' in android 10 is the new approach to help people find a better balance between their digital and real worlds. So, for all those who are unknown from this concept, this article will elaborate on what it is & why you should activate this feature on your smartphones.
Google Digital Wellbeing is an initiative by the operating system on the concept of how one should interact with technology. It has been done to help mobile users keep a tab of their daily usage. Well, not just to have a check, excitingly its features also help you cut down avid use of smartphones.
Apparently, it raises a question on why do we need to implement this control. It’s because, in researches conducted in America when being asked what distracts you most, many people answered it was their smartphone. Every time it flashes, beeps, or vibrates, it disturbs & the same time intrigues them to check it out. It’s basically FOMO, ‘Fear Of Missing Out’ because of which they can’t live without their smartphones. Moreover, teenagers have a lot more influence in changing their habits and perspective to lead life. Here is a fact check which briefs about the utter requirement to control usage of mobile technology.
As per the infographic provided by commonsensemedia.org
According to radiologists, smartphone and internet addiction creates an imbalance in the brain. Even if this statement is hyperbole for limited sampling, it is evident that this unusual effect is developing among people across the globe.
A dashboard that keeps you informed
Once you activate this service, the dashboard gives you an overview of the time you’ve spent using the phone. It updates with the screen time of all user applications, time spent on them, and a total number of notifications received on that app. This data can also be viewed in different breakdowns such as total hours spent or track previous days usage.
Once, when you have taken your data, ‘Digital Well Being’ can also act as your digital nanny which allows you to setup limitation to yourself in check. This can be achieved by the following features:
Set Daily Limits With Timers
To limit the time you spend using certain apps or websites, daily reminders work best. When your set timer runs out, the selected app or website is paused for rest of the day.
Customize Notifications
With this, you can change notifications settings for your phone or a particular application by deciding which alerts to show & their frequency.
Snooze Notifications
Through this setting, you can snooze notifications of applications (such as shopping offers) for as long as you want or also temporarily hide their distraction causing alerts.
Do Not Disturb Mode
With the do not disturb mode, you can hide notifications of all apps & you won’t see them on the screen until the set timer runs.
Wind Down
This feature lets you limit the usage by reminding you to switch off your smartphone when it's bedtime. It also changes your screen to grayscale. You can also activate do not disturb mode in this.
Stay focused With Pause
The focus mode minimizes distractions by pausing notification from the apps that you have selected in a single tap.
Well, vivo smartphone users already get an alike feature in their FunTouch OS with Jovi. It monitors your daily activities like:
- No of times phone pickup
- Average view duration
- Longest continuous usage
- First pickup
- Last drop off
- Longest lock screen period
But the only limitation of these features is that you can't limit your usage or regulate them with settings.
If you want to set control more than just keeping a record of your screen than we suggest you installing Google Digital Well Being. This app is only available on smartphones above android pie (9) and other operating systems based on the same. However, for android Q (10) user this applications comes preloaded.
- Download Google Digital Wellbeing application
- Open the application
- Set limits for the application you use often.
- Set your daily timer for using a smartphone.
That’s it, these are the simple steps which help you to build good habits for using a smartphone.
In a nutshell, technology should improve your life instead of causing distraction. Thus, if you can’t control it manually take optimal use of ‘Digital Well Being’ to help you make a change. We hope that you found this article useful and show support with the like button. Also, you can leave your feedback in the comment section below or suggestions for more topics you want to know about.
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