iPhone

We finally started taking screen time seriously in 2018

At the beginning of this year, I was using my iPhone to browse new titles on Amazon when I saw the cover of “How to Break Up With Your Phone” by Catherine Price. I downloaded it on Kindle because I genuinely wanted to reduce my smartphone use, but also because I thought it would be…


At the beginningof this year, I was using my iPhone to browse new titles on Amazon when I saw the cover of “How to Break Up With Your Phone” by Catherine Price. I downloaded it on Kindle because I genuinely wanted to reduce my smartphone use, but also because I thought it would be hilarious to read a book about breaking up with your smartphone on my smartphone (stupid, I know). Within a couple of chapters, however, I was motivated enough to download Moment, a screen-time-tracking app recommended by Price, and re-purchase the book in print.

Early in “How to Break Up With Your Phone,” Price invites her readers to take the Smartphone Compulsion Test, developed by David Greenfield, a psychiatry professor at the University of Connecticut who also founded the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction. The test has 15 questions, but I knew I was in trouble after answering the first five. Humbled by my very high score, which I am too embarrassed to disclose, I decided it was time to get serious about curtailing my smartphone usage.

Of the chapters in Price’s book, the one called “Putting the Dope in Dopamine” resonated with me the most. She writes that “phones and most apps are deliberately designed without ‘stopping cues’ to alert us when we’ve had enough—which is why it’s so easy to accidentally binge. On a certain level, we know that what we’re doing is making us feel gross. But instead of stopping, our brains decide the solution is to seek out more dopamine. We check our phones again. And again. And again.”

Gross was exactly how I felt. I bought my first iPhone in 2011 (and owned an iPod Touch before that). It was the first thing I looked at in the morning and the last thing I saw at night. I would claim it was because I wanted to check work stuff, but really I was on autopilot. Thinking about what I could have accomplished over the past eight years if I hadn’t been constantly attached to my smartphone made me feel queasy. I also wondered what it had done to my brain’s feedback loop. Just as sugar changes your palate, making you crave more and more sweets to feel sated, I was worried that the incremental doses of immediate gratification my phone doled out would diminish my ability to feel genuine joy and pleasure.

Price’s book was published in February, at the beginning of a year when it feels like tech companies finally started to treat excessive screen time as a liability (or at least do more than pay lip service to it). In addition to the introduction of Screen Time in iOS 12 and Android’s digital well-being tools, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube all launched new features that allow users to track time spent on their sites and apps.

Early this year, influential activist investors who hold Apple shares also called for the company to focus on how their devices impact kids. In a letter to Apple, hedge fund Jana Partners and California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) wrote “social media sites and applications for which the iPhone and iPad are a primary gateway are usually designed to be as addictive and time-consuming as possible, as many of their original creators have publicly acknowledged,” adding that “it is both unrealistic and a poor long-term business strategy to ask parents to fight this battle alone.”

The growing mound of research

Then in November, researchers at Penn State released an important new study that linked social media usage by adolescents to depression. Led by psychologist Melis

Read More

Be the first to write a comment.

Leave a Reply

iPhone

The best tips for managing your iPhone’s storage

One of the most frustrating prompts an iPhone user can get is ‘Storage Almost Full.’ Whether you’re trying to update your phone, download a movie before catching a flight, or record video, having no storage on your iPhone is incredibly frustrating. With any device, it’s ideal to have approximately 10 percent unused storage to ensure

One of the most frustrating prompts an iPhone user can get is ‘Storage Almost Full.’

Whether you’re trying to update your phone, download a movie before catching a flight, or record video, having no storage on your iPhone is incredibly frustrating. With any device, it’s ideal to have approximately 10 percent unused storage to ensure ample space for cached files and daily tasks. Letting your device’s storage get too close to full could result in sluggish performance, freezing and crashes. 

It sucks attempting to comb through photos and apps figuring out what to remove just to recover a sliver of space. In an ideal world, getting more storage than you currently have to prepare for your future storage needs is always best as apps and files get larger. Of course, we don’t always operate in the ideal world and sometimes come up against storage limitations. 

So, here are seven tips to help you better manage your iPhone’s storage.

Check iPhone Storage

Before haphazardously deleting photos and apps, it’s best to check your iPhone’s storage, how much is being used, and what’s taking up that space. Apps themselves and the data they store vary in size. Sometimes, that data is just cached files, with social media platforms like Facebook and Snapchat being major culprits of their apps slowly growing larger over time. Other times, that app data could be downloaded content, like how I have YouTube download my Watch Later list, inflating the app’s size. 

iPhone storage is measured in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB), with current models being 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. Meanwhile, apps and files are mostly kilobytes (KB), megabytes (MB), or gigabytes. 1TB=1,024GB. 1GB=1,024MB. 1MB=1,024 KB. Notice a pattern? The larger unit is made up of 1,024 smaller units. When reviewing data to be removed to free up storage on your iPhone, focus on the largest files and apps. Deleting a 3MB doesn’t impact a 128GB iPhone much, while removing a 1.5GB video makes a much greater difference. 

To check your iPhone’s used storage:
1. Open Settings
2. Tap General
3. Tap iPhone Storage

Offload and Delete Apps

Now that you’re reviewing your iPhone’s storage you can pick out apps that take up a lot of space or that you just aren’t using anymore. The iPhone Storage page lists all apps installed organized by name, last used date, or file size. Swiping right to left or tapping on an app in the list presents you with two options: Offload App and Delete App.

Delete App is the default option for most, as it removes the app and its associated data from the device. Delete App is the best option for apps you do not intend to use again. In contrast, Offload App is likely best described as a soft de

Read More

Continue Reading
iPhone

Hacker “Washes” $25M in Stolen Crypto Through Magic: The Gathering Card Scheme

A stealthy hacker has siphoned over $25 million worth of ether through Tornado Cash only to turn around and spend the illicit funds on collectible Magic: The Gathering trading cards. The brazen scheme appears tailored to help the exploiter “wash” and cash out the stolen cryptocurrency while avoiding seizure…

A stealthy hacker has siphoned over $25 million worth of ether through Tornado Cash only to turn around and spend the illicit funds on collectible Magic: The Gathering trading cards. The brazen scheme appears tailored to help the exploiter “wash” and cash out the stolen cryptocurrency while avoiding seizure…
Read More

Continue Reading
iPhone

Sports festival: Edo Dep Gov, Shaibu allegedly fritters N3b on bread, N700m for transportation

Reports have emerged on social media how Edo state Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu allegedly siphoned several billions of naira meant for the organization of the 2020 National Sports Festival hosted by the state in 2021. The report scattered across social media platforms claimed the deputy governor expertly inflated the contract cost of each service for

Reports have emerged on social media how Edo state Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu allegedly siphoned several billions of naira meant for the organization of the 2020 National Sports Festival hosted by the state in 2021. The report scattered across social media platforms claimed the deputy governor expertly inflated the contract cost of each service for […]
The post Sports festival: Edo Dep Gov…
Read More

Continue Reading
iPhone

Here’s what’s actually going on in that viral ‘glitch in the matrix’ iPhone mirror picture

If you’ve spent any time on social media over the last several days, you’ve probably seen this viral image. It was first posted on Instagram by comedian Tessa Coates, who can be seen in a bridal shop standing in front of two mirrors. In the image…

If you’ve spent any time on social media over the last several days, you’ve probably seen this viral image. It was first posted on Instagram by comedian Tessa Coates, who can be seen in a bridal shop standing in front of two mirrors. In the image…
Read More

Continue Reading