Comments on: The Screen Time app. It’s ruining my life.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:09:00 +0000

I was definitely thinking that in the future I might have the goal to be not to exceed certain times on social media, but my goal in November was really trying to limit the amount of time I’m on my phone in general to see if I could do it and to hopefully be more aware how much my kids see me use my phone… I mean they don’t know whether I’m doing something ‘productive’ on it or not! I worry about this same thing when I use my Kindle, though, because if they see me read an actual book that seems more positive than seeing me stare at another screen / Kindle / device.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 16:07:00 +0000

This is sooooo true! I usually do trade one screen for another. Except having the screen time tracker really does make me realize when I’m aimlessly scrolling and possibly avoiding housework that needs to be done or my kids/Tim. At least when it was just a computer I needed to be sitting at home to use it, and wouldn’t generally be SO unintentional about scrolling.

By: Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 04:34:00 +0000

I check my usage, but honestly I have so many screens that I feel like overall I’m just trading time on one for time on another… it’s my own phone, work phone, work computers, work laptop (which I try hard not to use on weeknights), my own computer, and the TV. It’s pretty sad and frustrating, but these days unless I am out with friends (in which case I still look things up all the time in the course of conversation), getting ready for bed (I am good at giving myself a meditation/reading buffer before sleep), showering/cooking/eating or at an exercise class… there’s usually one screen or another that I’m focusing on. Even hiking, we’ll use AllTrails to make sure we’re on track. I have such mixed feelings about it!! But the truth is, I don’t think it’s so different from before I had a smartphone — because then i just spent so much time on the computer instead…

By: Bethany @ Accidental Intention

Bethany @ Accidental Intention — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 19:23:00 +0000

Whoa, it never occurred to me that Google Maps would count as screen
time! I guess not having a car (and thus not driving) would keep from
being aware of that. That seems like something you should definitely be
able to turn off, though! There’s a HUGE difference between using your
phone to get you to your destination efficiently (or get you there at
all, if you don’t know the way there) and mindlessly consuming social
media. I get eBooks from the library on an app on my phone, so
technically that counts “against” me, too, but I don’t feel like it
*really* counts against me, since, once again, there’s a big difference
between reading a book (even if it’s on my phone) and scrolling through
Twitter. Not saying that you have to change your November goal, but
maybe it could be helpful to be more concerned about how much time you
spend in a category vs. how much time you spend on your phone in
general? According to my Screen Time app right now, I’ve spent 21:32 of
the past seven days on my phone, but 4:10 of that was on Reading &
Reference (we will ignore how much of it was on Social Networking 😛 ),
so while yes, that is almost a full 24 hour day spent on my phone, at
least part of it was used to help me learn and grow, not waste my time.