Tech usage awareness vital

By: Kayla Hunt, Columnist

As the advancements of technology continue to increase, the concern over people’s relationships with technology increases as well. There are many concerns regarding how much time people are spending interacting with technology, and even going to lengths of labeling some people as addicts.

According to a study conducted by King University, Americans spend about 5 hours a day browsing on their smartphones and touch their phones about 2,617 times per day.

Tech companies are joining the conversation as well and making attempts to limit the amount of time people spend with technology.

In Apple’s recent update, iOS 12, they included a new feature called “screen time.” Screen Time allows iPhone users to monitor and track their phone usage and allows parents to control their children’s phone time as well.

This new feature gives users the ability to view how much time they spend on each app and allows them to set limits for them. After users set a limit, the app will lock once they reach it. Even though the lock is easy to bypass, this new feature is still useful because it allows users to be more conscious of how much time they are spending with their smartphone.

Screen time also notifies users with a weekly report that breakdowns their phone usage for that week.

Google is also participating in the conversation by planning on introducing a feature called “Digital Wellbeing,” which is similar to Apple’s screen time. In Google’s prototype, it is more difficult for users to bypass the screen limit. Google is also going to include a “Wind Down” feature that users will be able to set a bedtime, which puts the phone in Do Not Disturb mode and puts the entire screen in grayscale mode.

Even though technology has become a vital, integral aspect of our everyday lives, major tech companies are now making attempts to limit that interaction. The new features being introduced will give users more awareness of how much time they’re spending with their smartphones and provides more control over how this time is being spent.

 

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