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I spent 36 hours and 23 minutes on my iPhone last week. It's almost a whole week of work wasted on Netflix, Twitter and Slack.
Clearly, I have a problem.
And chances are, you too. Because, faced with this – we all spend too much time looking at our phones.
Apple wants to help us with that.
As of today, anyone with an iPhone 5S and later can glean detailed information about the frequency and duration of their interaction with their device. Monday, Apple (AAPL) released the public beta of iOS 12, the latest version of its mobile operating system. It includes a suite of features designed to track the use of your phone and help you reduce the time spent in front of the screen.
Apple is the latest company to solve a mounting problem created by its own products. "Time well spent" is the slogan of Silicon Valley Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB) Deploy features to help people make better use of their time. I spent two weeks using iOS 12, and even though it has not changed my habits yet, I am much more aware of my relationship with my phone.
Related: Tim Cook reveals his tech habits: I use my phone too much
The new operating system is now available as a beta (which almost certainly includes bugs and is not recommended for most users) and will be available to all later this year. It includes performance enhancements, FaceTime group calls, customizable Animoji that look like you, and new augmented reality powers. But the central feature is Screen Time.
The tool, found in Settings, counts the time you spend on your phone per day and week, and breaks it down by app and by category. It shows how many notifications you receive and how often you pick up your phone (I take mine every six minutes). You receive all this information in a convenient weekly report that makes it difficult to just refuse you a problem.
"Every person has to make the decision when they get their numbers as to what they would like to do," Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNN when he announced the story last month.
After reading my reports, I decided to cut down on social media, which took up six hours of my week. I used Screen Time tools to limit my daily time Twitter (tWTR) and Instagram and everything else just 15 minutes away. I quickly went to an hour, because Screen Time takes his job very seriously. Hit your self-imposed limit and the screen will turn gray, making it impossible to see the application. You have the option of extending your time by 15 minutes or giving up the limit for the day.
I quickly got into the habit of repeatedly hitting the snooze button while flipping through Twitter, and finally just disabled the feature.
Another feature, called "Do not disturb", allows you to stop all your notifications and calls. You can schedule regular interruptions or just let your phone turn them off automatically based on your location, your calendar, and so on. I have chosen to schedule my executive time from 6pm to 9pm, whereas I generally ignore my phone. It still has not stopped me from taking a look at the screen. I could not stop it. You probably can not either.
"The biochemistry of your brain invites you to check in. It's really hard to change," said Dr. Larry Rosen, a psychologist and author who focuses on how people use technology.
Stop looking at your phone, he says, and your anxiety is rising. This is what is called nomophobia, the fear of being without a phone, although you might know it as FOMO – the fear of running out.
Related: iOS 12 highlights: Memoji, technical dependency tool, FaceTime group
Apple is not the only one trying to help people with that. Google has unveiled similar features for Android, and Facebook is testing time tracking and alarms in its apps. Such features are the first steps towards changing the way people use technology. They will not solve the growing problem of technological dependence, but Rosen says that they will make people aware of the problem.
He has a point. Seeing just how long I spend flipping through my phone was sobering, if not quite useful. Screen Time, like the Android features, provides no context for the data, no suggestions on how I could change my behavior, no clue to what is normal or even acceptable. It's hard to know, looking at my weekly report, if 36 hours and the change on my phone is dangerously high, or just slightly excessive.
Rosen says his research shows that young adults spend about five hours a day on their devices and take a look at it 50 to 60 times. A Deloitte poll has set this figure 47 times a day.
As for me, Screen Time tells me that I take my iPhone X 75 times a day. That shocked me almost as much as learning that I was watching the damned thing every six minutes. But without knowing where I'm sitting on the bell curve of phone use, it's hard to know what to do.
"If we want to change the way people usually interact with their phone, it's not enough to give them more numbers," said Ramsay Brown, neuroscientist and chief operating officer of Boundless Mind. His company makes software designed to change user behavior, including a tool called Space that requires you to wait for applications to launch.
If you want to jump between being aware of your behavior and changing it, Brown suggests starting with fewer notifications. Apple has new features to help with that. iOS 12 provides more granular control over notifications silencing certain applications, or grouping them in a "stack", an alert alerts you of 25 comments left on your latest Instagram post. Siri will also propose changes to your settings based on your behavior.
All this should help, because these hellish notifications trigger half of all phone pickups, says Rosen. If you want to do more, eliminate the apps you're most likely to waste time on (Goodbye, Twitter, see you later, Slack!) By burying them in a folder or deleting them completely.
And finally, go slowly. Do not try to make radical changes all in one. I tried to limit myself to 15 minutes on Twitter, an hour. This plan quickly collapsed. Rather than fighting me, I will try to use it a bit less, paying more attention to people around me, and perhaps removing some apps.
It may not work. But at least Screen Time has made me aware of the problem. That's the goal.
CNNMoney (New York) First published on June 25, 2018: 5:36 PM ET
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