Apple's screen time will not solve your dependence on the iPhone – without self-control

Wednesday, Apple is expected to announce three new iPhones. The shipping with them will be this software, designed to help us use them less. (You will not need a new iPhone to get the screen time, as part of iOS 12, it will be available soon for all devices running iOS 11).

Why would the company encourage this? Optimistic outlook: Cook and Co. wants to save humanity from becoming smartphones. The pessimistic view: Investors and users who are unhappy that their $ 1 trillion business has made our attention, to society and to children, are reluctant.

My livelihood depends on the knowledge of technology. Over the past year, an overload of work has coincided with an increase in the number of my family members. Between two meetings, emails and early mornings (or late nights) with my son, Instagram was a soothing place, Twitter was giving me something worrisome and the texting was giving me a way to let off steam.

I have formed bad habits, ones that have only a chance to be broken by an act of conscious will.

Screen Time is based on the idea that if you know the time spent on your devices, you will do less. It has tons of information about your usage, and you can set time limits for specific applications so you can not use them anymore.

Just a small problem: For those of us who compulsively consult our phones – sometimes even when we watch our children on the playground or cross the street – the lock of Apple looks like tape on a pack of cigarettes. If you are not super addicted, there is hope.

How does the screen time work?

Screen Time is not an application – it is hidden in the settings. It provides tables and graphs of your daily and weekly usage: how often did you pick up the phone, how long did you spend in certain applications, and so on.

Defining specific limits to the application, for example for Instagram or Twitter, is a complicated and confusing process. When you tap Application Limits, you can limit the use of different categories, such as social networking, games, and entertainment. But setting limits for a specific application is different: tap the graph that displays your daily usage, select one of your most used apps, and then tap Add Limit.

How long is application time too much? The best advice I've had on setting the limits came from Arianna Huffington, who now runs Thrive Global, a startup focused on combating stress and burnout. "If you spend three hours on" Fortnite "or Instagram, I recommend setting the limit to 2 hours and 45 minutes to start," she said. "Not 30 minutes. This will never happen; this will lead to disappointment and frustration. "

How the screen time failed me

I set my limits between 45 minutes and 1 hour on Twitter and Instagram and I set my phone to go into Stop Time mode – by closing all the apps and notifications you prefer not to see – at 11 pm

Except that when the screen displays "You have reached your limit", most often, I press the Ignore Limit button that appears just below. You have two choices: Ignore the limit for the rest of the day or for only 15 minutes.

Google's similar wellness tool, still in beta and available only to Android 9.0 users with Pixel phones, is more aggressive in controlling your limits. When I reached my limit on Twitter, I had to enter Settings to add time. This process was much more efficient than Apple's.

Best of all, Google's Wind Down feature puts the phone in grayscale mode by the end of the day (or whenever you specify it). Yes, your phone looks horrible without any color, but that 's the goal. You can also transform the screen of your iPhone into grayscale, but it is deeply embedded in accessibility settings, and it does not have a timer. However, I have not found a better way to stay away from my phone. (For more information, watch my video above.)

How do I change my habits

After a few weeks of using Screen Time, I have almost forgotten everything. Tapping Ignore Limit has become a routine. But one week in August, when I had to take another 15 minutes on Twitter, I realized that the control had to come from me, not from my phone.

I decided to make an appointment with David Greenfield, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut, School of Medicine and Founder of the Center for Internet Addiction and Technology.

Dr. Greenfield explained that the part of my brain that wants to ignore the limit is not the same one that defines the limit. "The cognitive side of your brain does not treat it, but the limbic or animal side in search of pleasure is," he said.

My brain is constantly on the lookout for the dopamine shot that comes with an exciting email, lots of retweets or a private message on Instagram. I tap, shoot and scroll continuously to reach the digital summit.

Even realizing this, I was not able to get as much screen time as Dr. Greenfield's suggestions:

• Adjusting my grayscale phone for the songs of the day has reduced the frequency with which I pick it up and how much time I spend in visually appealing apps. (My use dropped 26% after drunk, says Screen Time.)

• Understanding how my relationship with technology affects my relationship with my loved ones has motivated me to respect basic boundaries: no dinner phone, one-to-one conversations, recess with my son, etc. .

• Placing the phone out of sight (in an office, in a bag, across the room) restricts my itchiness to check it.

• By learning how my use of technology could affect my son's development, I want to give a better example.

I am just starting this trip and I hope to let you know how that will go. In the meantime, try out Apple's Screen Time or Android's Wellbeing when the latest operating system arrives on your phone, especially if you're upgrading this season: the bigger the screen, the greater the challenge of mastering it. self is important.

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Write to Joanna Stern at [email protected]