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Apple’s New Screen Time Explained

Joyce Chen Student Contributor, American University
American Contributor Student Contributor, American University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at American chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

With the new iOS 12 updates has come a new feature called Screen Time that allows us to monitor how much time we spend on our phones. Basically, its a reminder that we spend too much time. It categorizes the time we spend on our phones into social networking, entertainment, reading & reference, productivity, creativity, education, health & fitness, and other.

This information gives users the idea of how much time we spend on each category and app. Most of us spend  our time on our phone scrolling through Instagram, swiping through the filters on Snapchat to find the best one or stalking our old high school friends on Facebook. This function is an effort made by Apple to help users to control the amount of time we dedicate to our phones. 

App Limits allows users to set a daily time limit for apps under each category. With this function, we can make sure those 5-minute scrolls on Instagram don’t turn into an hour. In addition to telling us how much time we spend on our screen, it measures how many calls and notifications we receive every hour. Another daily reminder that I have no friends.

It’s up to you how you want to use screen time to adjust your phone habits, but it’s a step to help increase awareness about how much we really use our phones throughout the day. 

 

(Image Credit: cover, 1)

Joyce Chen

American '22

Joyce is a freshman at American University with an intended major in Business Administration. Born and raised in New York City, Joyce is taking advantage of the change in scenery living in DC. During her free time, she loves exploring museums with her friends and binge watch the same series Netflix. When she isn't studying or doing homework, she can be found sitting in at a local cafe sipping ice coffee and catching on reading.