Endless scrolling every morning. Hours wasted on TikTok after work. What’s the best way to build better habits regarding your relationship with your phone?
Digital wellness has been a huge topic of concern recently. Apple and Android devices claim to prioritize the mental health of their users. One of our favorite ways to maximize productivity is through features that limit the amount of time we spend on entertainment platforms like Instagram, YouTube and the rest.
Below, we’ll show you how to put a lid on your toxic social media addiction.
How to use Screen Time for iOS
Screen Time is one of the best digital wellness tools at your disposal. It lets you schedule time on your phone, block certain apps and prevent you from scrolling through your most addictive feeds for too long.
Before you begin, you’ll need to enable Screen Time on your device:
- Under Settings, tap Screen Time.
- Select Turn On Screen Time, followed by Continue.
If it’s your phone, select This is My iPhone. The other option allows you to set up Screen Time for a child or family member. Now, you can adjust your Screen Time settings in the Settings app under the Screen Time heading.
In this section, you can limit everything from the time you’re allowed to spend on selected apps daily to preventing specific contacts from reaching out to you when enabled.
Toggle on Share Across Devices to sync these changes to any device that you’re signed into iCloud on. It’s the simplest way to stick to your digital wellness goals while letting yourself have some fun in moderation.
Here’s how to set up app time limits on iPhone:
- Go to Settings > Screen Time and turn on Screen Time.
- Tap App Limits > Add Limit.
- From here, you can select as many app categories as you want or get them all at once by selecting All Apps & Categories.
- To select individual apps, tap a category to see all the apps in the category, then choose the apps you want to limit.
- Tap Next and set the time limit. You can set an amount of time for each day by tapping Customize Days.
- Tap Add when you’re finished.
How to set time limits on apps for Android
Android has a feature called Digital Wellbeing that gives you screen time information. Here’s how to set it up. NOTE: Some of these steps work only on Android 10 and up.
To find Digital Wellbeing as an app, open it in your Settings app and then turn on Show icon in the app list. You must set up your profile the first time you open Digital Wellbeing.
- Open your phone’s Settings app.
- Tap Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.
- Under Your Digital Wellbeing tools, tap Show your data.
Android’s Digital Wellbeing app lets you set app timers and schedule display changes. You can limit your time on individual apps, including social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Here’s how to set it up:
- Open your phone’s Settings app.
- Tap Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.
- Tap the chart.
- Next to the app you want to limit, tap Set timer.
- Choose how much time you can spend on that app. Then, tap Set.
You can silence notifications for individual apps as well. This will help avoid triggers that make you want to check in on social media sites. Here’s how to silence apps:
- Open your phone’s Settings app.
- Tap Notifications > App settings.
- Under Most recent, find apps that recently sent you notifications. Tap All apps to see more.
- Tap the app you want to silence.
- Turn the app’s notifications on or off.
Finding the right life balance while having technology around can be complicated. It’s best to set limits that are better for your health and wellness.