⏱️😲 Dem Don Test Apple New Control For Pikin iPhone Time, And E Dey Work! 📱
Dem don notice say people no just fit drop their phone anyhow. E fit be say you dey busy, next thing you go see say your hand don hold phone, your eye don check social media for updates, dey read news sites or e even fit be say you dey play game 📲💻🎮. Some studies talk say this kind thing dey make pikin no dey focus for class, e dey cause sleep no gree come, and e fit even lead to depression 😳💤😔.
For my side sef, e be like say I get wahala with de way I dey pick my phone anyhow. So when Apple talk say dem wan bring new software wey go help people reduce di time dem dey spend for their iPhones, na dat time I tell myself say I go test am for myself. I kon also reason am say e go better make I try am for one teenager wey like screen well-well, na dat kind pikin dem dey fear pass 😱📱👦👧.
One wahala just dey: I no get pikin, so I get to borrow one. Luckily for me, my editor come dey happy to borrow me her 14-year-old daughter, Sophie, make we test am together. So last month, I give Sophie one iPhone X wey get di beta version of iOS 12, na him be Apple new operating system, wey come with di Screen Time feature. We come set di account in a way wey go make me like di papa, wey fit set limits, and she come be like my pikin 👪📱⏲️.
Make I explain how Screen Time dey work sef. Di feature dey live inside di iPhone settings, e dey show dashboard of data about how you dey use your iPhone. You fit check your stats for di day or for di week, including how long you spend for specific apps and for di phone in general. Inside di dashboard, you fit create time limits for specific apps or categories of apps, like social networking or games. When you don exhaust your time for one app, e go lock you outside 🔐🕒📊.
For di past three weeks, I study Sophie phone use pattern and my own sef. After we see di apps wey we spend too much time on — Sophie dey spend hours every day dey chat with her friends for Snapchat, and I come dey waste too much of my life dey read Twitter — I put some time limits for both of us.
Here na wetin come happen. For Week 2, when she dey try withdraw from her phone, Sophie start to dey do strange things. After she first use up all her time on Snapchat for one Tuesday, she tell her mama say she dey feel “triggered” (which I come learn say na slang for feeling annoyed or vexed). She come tell me later say she don realize say she go just open her phone and dey stare blankly for di app icons just to avoid using up her limit for Snapchat.
“E just be like say na pattern for me — to open my phone and I no go get anywhere to go,” she talk. “I just dey look screen. E dey somehow, so I dey try make I no do dat kind thing.”
But for last-last, di result come sweet us for belle. Sophie average daily phone use drop by about half, from over six hours for Week 1 to about three hours and four minutes for Week 3. My own average phone use reduce 15 minutes a day, to about three and a half hours. I still dey think say we dey spend too much time for our phones, but Sophie progress dey make this fake papa proud (and e come dey make me shame myself).
This early result suppose dey sweet people wey dey fear say long-term addiction to smartphones dey come. There don dey other ways to limit use, including apps like Moment, wey get many of the same features as Screen Time. But none of them don dey embedded inside phone like Apple new software 🎉📱🔐.
For Week 1, Sophie and I no fit start di experiment well because of technical difficulties. Apple’s iOS 12 still dey beta, meaning say dem still dey test di unfinished version of di software system by app developers and early adopters — and we come face plenty wahala.
For most of di first week, one bug no gree me see Sophie Screen Time statistics. But at di end of di week, after Apple release software fix, her weekly stats come show. E come show say she don use her phone for six hours and seven minutes a day on average over di week. I fit also see say Sophie dey sometimes sneak dey look her iPhone past midnight, when she suppose don dey sleep. After I share di data with my editor, she come bombard Sophie with plenty disapproving text messages and fire emoji.
Meanwhile, my own stats show say I don use my phone for three hours and 46 minutes a day on average over di week. I spend most of my time dey use di Twitter app Tweetbot, and a good amount na just waste dey play Zynga Poker.
With Screen Time now dey work well, I put limits for both Sophie and myself. For her, I set 30-minute limit for gaming and 60-minute limit for social networking. To help her sleep, I also on Downtime, one setting wey go disable most parts of di phone for set time, from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
I give myself di same one-hour limit for social networking apps. But instead of setting limit for games, I decide to kill my Zynga Poker addiction from di root by deleting di game and say bye bye to my dream of being fake-money billionaire.
For Week 2, even though Sophie dey vex at first say dem lock her outside Snapchat after one hour, she come like di limit.
In fact, she come ask for more limits. She talk say she dey waste too much time dey read articles for di Safari browser, so she ask for 90-minute limit for there. She also request say make I keep all di limits until she finish di monthlong summer camp wey she just start.
I come agree. “I train am well,” I tell my editor.
For my side, I come realize say when I reach my limit for Twitter, I go find other ways to still hold my phone. I catch myself dey check my bank account and dey load di same news sites over and over.
Sophie progress come dey surprising. My own no too show. By di end of dat week, she manage cut her average phone use to four hours and 44 minutes a day, down 23 percent from di previous week. (I sure say di wahala from her mother outburst of emoji get something to do with am.)
My own average screen use no just decrease — e still dey about three and a half hours a day.
For Week 3, at di beginning of di third week, Sophie phone use come continue to drop.
For some days dat week, Sophie phone use dey lower than my own. On Tuesday afternoon, her screen time reduce to about two and a half hours, whereas my own don pass three hours.
At dat point, I come feel like say I no do well. (If I be pikin, I fit talk say I feel “triggered.”) I come ask myself: Which kind parent I be if I come dey more addicted than my teenage daughter to smartphone? Who go come listen to this kind yeye man? When I share this one with Sophie, she come dey laugh say: “You dey use your phone pass me?”
So for di rest of di week, I come dey push myself to beat her. I dey log out of Twitter each time I use am for di web browser. I stop to dey check my bank account, I assure myself say no more money go just appear.
E come be like say I dey compete with friends for Fitbit to see who fit accumulate di most steps — di only difference be say I dey try win by doing less.
For Friday, my phone use na one hour and 51 minutes. Sophie own na three hours and 17 minutes. With one strong hand I shout, “What now, Sophie?”
But at di end, my own average daily use for di week na three hours and 36 minutes. E be like so because for Fourth of July and throughout di weekend I spend total of eight hours driving — with Google Maps dey run on my phone screen. E no look like say e suppose count against my Screen Time since my eyes mostly dey for road.
But alas, with Sophie dey do just over three hours a day, I lose clean clean.
I come check Sophie to ask how she feel after di experiment finish. She talk say other than say she come dey focus more for homework for her camp, and dey sleep with less wahala, she still dey feel di same.
“E dey vex me say I get my phone but no fit use am,” she talk. “I think e don increase my good habits, though.”
She come make one more request: “You fit add another limit for Netflix?”
NOW IN ENGLISH
⏱️😲 They’ve Tested Apple’s New Control for Children’s iPhone Usage, And It Works! 📱
It’s been noticed that people just can’t seem to put their phones down. It may be that you’re busy, next thing you find yourself holding your phone, checking social media for updates, reading news sites, or even playing games 📲💻🎮. Some studies suggest that this type of behavior can distract children in class, cause insomnia, and even lead to depression 😳💤😔.
I personally feel I have a problem with how I mindlessly reach for my phone. So when Apple announced they were developing new software to help people reduce their iPhone usage, I decided to test it out for myself. I also thought it would be interesting to try it on a screen-loving teenager, the demographic causing the most concern 😱📱👦👧.
One problem arose: I don’t have a child, so I had to borrow one. Fortunately, my editor was happy to lend her 14-year-old daughter, Sophie, for our experiment. Last month, I gave Sophie an iPhone X with the beta version of iOS 12, Apple’s new operating system, which includes the Screen Time feature. We set up the account so that I would act as the parent, setting limits, and she would act as my child 👪📱⏲️.
Let me explain how Screen Time works. The feature resides within the iPhone’s settings, providing a dashboard of data about your iPhone usage. You can review your stats for the day or for the week, including the duration of usage for specific apps and for the phone overall. From the dashboard, you can create time limits for specific apps or categories of apps, like social networking or games. Once you’ve used up your time for an app, it locks you out 🔐🕒📊.
For the past three weeks, I’ve been studying Sophie’s and my own phone usage patterns. After identifying the apps we were spending too much time on — Sophie spent hours each day chatting with her friends on Snapchat, and I realized I was wasting too much of my life reading Twitter — I set time limits for both of us.
Here’s what happened. In Week 2, as she was trying to withdraw from her phone, Sophie began to behave strangely. After first using up all her Snapchat time on a Tuesday, she told her mother she felt “triggered” (which I learned is slang for feeling annoyed or upset). She later told me she noticed that she would just unlock her phone and stare blankly at the app icons to avoid using up her Snapchat limit.
“It just seems like a habit for me — to unlock my phone and have nowhere to go,” she said. “I’m just looking at the screen. It’s weird, so I try not to do that.”
But ultimately, the results were encouraging. Sophie’s average daily phone usage dropped by about half, from over six hours in Week 1 to about three hours and four minutes in Week 3. My own average phone use decreased by 15 minutes a day, to about three and a half hours. I still think we spend too much time on our phones, but Sophie’s progress made this pseudo-parent proud (and a bit embarrassed about my own usage).
These early results should reassure those worried about long-term addiction to smartphones. There have been other ways to limit usage, including apps like Moment, which offer many of the same features as Screen Time. But none of them are as integrated into the phone as Apple’s new software 🎉📱🔐.
In Week 1, Sophie and I couldn’t start the experiment smoothly due to technical difficulties. Apple’s iOS 12 was still in beta, meaning the unfinished version of the software system was being tested by app developers and early adopters — and we encountered plenty of issues.
For most of the first week, a bug prevented me from viewing Sophie’s Screen Time statistics. But at the end of the week, after Apple released a software fix, her weekly stats finally appeared. They showed that she used her phone for an average of six hours and seven minutes a day over the week. I could also see that Sophie sometimes sneaked a peek at her iPhone past midnight, when she should have been asleep. After I shared the data with my editor, she bombarded Sophie with disapproving text messages and fire emojis.
Meanwhile, my own stats showed that I used my phone for an average of three hours and 46 minutes a day over the week. I spent most of my time using the Twitter app Tweetbot, and wasted a good deal of time playing Zynga Poker.
With Screen Time now working properly, I set limits for both Sophie and myself. For her, I set a 30-minute limit for gaming and a 60-minute limit for social networking. To aid her sleep, I also enabled Downtime, a setting that disables most parts of the phone for a set period, from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
I gave myself the same one-hour limit for social networking apps. But instead of setting a limit for games, I decided to kill my Zynga Poker addiction at its root by deleting the game and giving up my dreams of being a fake-money billionaire.
In Week 2, although Sophie was initially frustrated by being locked out of Snapchat after one hour, she grew to appreciate the limit.
In fact, she asked for more restrictions. She said she was wasting too much time reading articles in the Safari browser, so she requested a 90-minute limit there. She also asked that I maintain all the limits until the end of her month-long summer camp, which had just begun.
I agreed. “I’ve trained her well,” I told my editor.
On my end, I realized that when I reached my limit for Twitter, I would find other ways to stay occupied on my phone. I caught myself checking my bank account and reloading the same news sites repeatedly.
Sophie’s progress was surprising. Mine, not so much. By the end of that week, she had managed to reduce her average daily phone use to four hours and 44 minutes, down 23 percent from the previous week. (I’m sure her mother’s outburst of emojis had something to do with it.)
My own average screen time didn’t decrease — it remained at about three and a half hours a day.
In Week 3, at the start of the third week, Sophie’s phone use continued to decline.
On some days that week, Sophie’s phone use was lower than mine. On Tuesday afternoon, her screen time was down to about two and a half hours, whereas mine was over three hours.
At that point, I felt like I was failing. (If I were a child, I might say I felt “triggered.”) I asked myself: What kind of parent am I if I’m more addicted to my smartphone than my teenage daughter? Who would listen to this kind of hypocrite? When I shared this with Sophie, she just laughed: “You use your phone more than me?”
So for the rest of the week, I pushed myself to beat her. I logged out of Twitter each time I used it on the web browser. I stopped checking my bank account, assuring myself that no more money would magically appear.
It felt like I was competing with friends on Fitbit to see who could accumulate the most steps — the only difference being that I was trying to win by doing less.
On Friday, my phone use was one hour and 51 minutes. Sophie’s was three hours and 17 minutes. I exclaimed triumphantly, “What now, Sophie?”
But in the end, my average daily use for the week was three hours and 36 minutes. That’s because I spent a total of eight hours driving over the Fourth of July and the weekend — with Google Maps running on my phone screen. It didn’t seem like it should count against my Screen Time since my eyes were mostly on the road.
But alas, with Sophie averaging just over three hours a day, I lost fair and square.
I checked in with Sophie to see how she felt after the experiment concluded. She said that besides being able to focus more on her homework at camp and sleeping with less difficulty, she felt the same.
“It frustrates me that I have my phone but can’t use it,” she said. “I think it’s increased my good habits, though.”
She made one more request: “Can you add another limit for Netflix?
