Screen Time and You: How Do You Limit Your Screen Time?
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I've seen a lot of chatter about screen time limits lately — especially since screen time is now so easy to track on your iPhone! — and I thought it might make an interesting discussion here. Over at CorporetteMoms today we’re discussing screen time rules that work for policing kids — but do you use any strategies to limit your own screen time, such as screen time apps and tools (like those on the iPhone or available through some WiFi routers), detox days, or other habits (like the “phone stack” game)?
For my $.02, I should definitely take more of a screen time detox than I do. I’ve been spending far too much time on Twitter and Facebook following political events, so I've been trying to track and limit my use of social media. I was a bit dismayed to find that simply setting a screen time limit for Social Media on my iPhone wasn’t super helpful — Messages are included in that category, and a lot of my texting is for kid-related things that I can’t really disconnect from, plus things that I think are actually healthy, like connecting with my husband and friends. So now I tend to limit things by app rather than by category. (See the image below if you're curious for how to do it; it took me some time to figure out.)
{related: where do you find your quiet?}
Other healthy habits to limit my own screen time include 1) trying to put my phone away during family dinner (when I grab it, it’s usually to track my food for the day) and 2) attempting to enforce a screen time “bedtime,” where only my Kindle is allowed after 11:30 p.m.
Obviously, my work is online, and a big part of my work is social media stuff like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, so I can’t limit them entirely, but it is always helpful when I can. I’ve tried the app Forest, which rewards you for putting down your phone for specified periods, but I can’t say I use it consistently — a lot of times, I’m legitimately picking up my phone for work or mom stuff! (After writing this post, I decided I'm going to try to use the app when I'm trying to take a phone detox, like during dinner or on Sundays.)
If you haven't checked your own screen time (and have an iPhone), you can go to Settings -> Screen Time (for me it's at the bottom of the second grouping). For the last 7 days on iPhone and iPad I've spent… oooh, not good:
- Safari: 6 hrs. 25 min.
- Facebook: 5 hrs. 41 min.
- Messages: 4 hrs. 51 min.
- Stupid game I play after the kids go to bed: 4 hrs. 51 min. (facepalm)
- Twitter: 3 hrs. 18 min.
I prefer to see things broken down by individual app rather than categories — you can then add individual limits to the apps. (See image below of where you add the limit on the individual app.) Note that these generally aren't HARD limits — you'll just get a little notice that basically says, “Hey, your screen time is up; enter the screen time passcode if you want more time.” Then you can give yourself another 15 minutes, an hour, or ignore the limit entirely. I also have general Screen Time Downtime (another iPhone option within the Screen Time page) from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., when almost every app on my phone requires the passcode before I can use it. (You can also “always allow” apps like phone, messages, FaceTime, Dropbox, Sleep Cycle, etc.)
Psst: we've talked in the past about how to limit your time on specific websites on Chrome, as well as our top 5 ways to improve your focus.
How about you guys — what is your relationship with screen time? Do you try to limit your own screen time, and if so how do you do it?
Stock photo via Stencil.
Last summer I read “How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life”, which I found to be practical and simple. One lasting change is that I charge my phone in the kitchen now, not the bedroom. I also deleted the social media apps from my phone (during the 30-day challenge) and, since then, ended up deleting Facebook. I had been thinking of doing this before (Cambridge Analytica scandal, facebook overlords, etc), but realizing that texting/emailing/calling people was more efficient and felt like a better connection really sealed the deal.
I still mindlessly zombie on my phone sometimes, but I’ve gotten better at using it for things I like (music/reading).
I do almost everything on my iphone or my ipad, and then I do my work on my MacBook Air and iMac, so does this all count as screentime? If so, I probably spend over 14 hours a day on this and that does not even count the movies I watch on my iPad at work! I am kind of hopless, if this all counts. But there is no way I can reduce my overall screen time b/c I do all of my work on line, and then my home billing on line, connected to work through the LAN or whatever it is on the internet we upload our billings to, and also I am connected to the courts directly for uploading my breifs. How in the world can I expect NOT to be on line and still bring home a paycheck? The manageing partner’s brother always remarks that I have my face glued to my screen, and he is right. The only question is which screen is it? All are work-connected, other than my 46″ screen SMART TV at home, and that is only b/c I choose NOT to do any research on that TV’s Browser. FOOEY! If I could go back to the days when I was a kid, there was no Internet, and we lived life a lot simpler back then. DOUBEL FOOEY!
Following up on the green J. Crew Factory dress posted a couple of weeks ago. I’m wearing it today and I love it. I used a mini steamer to get out the wrinkles and it still looks crisp five hours later. The fit is perfect for me with no alterations. I recommend it for hourglass shapes.
Thank you!
You can do this with. Google Pixel 3 as well.
Any recommendation for iron supplements? I’m looking for something I can take during period.
Do you mean regular text messaging is included in the social media category? That does not seem to be the case for ne
My phone tells me that I spend roughly 5-6 hours a week on my phone. That sounds high to me but curious to hear what others are doing. And does anyone know if that total includes if you listen to podcasts? I probably listen to about 2-3 hours of podcasts a week.
Weirdly, after I got a Google Home, my iPhone time wound up decreasing significantly. Before I used to listen to music by reaching to my iPhone, now I just tell Google Home to play something. I think the act of reaching my IPhone to play music often led to unnecessary time browsing on my phone and other time wasting mindless things. Now that i’ve shifted to Google home as the middle man, it minimizes opportunities for browsing on iPhone.
I was browsing my iphone settings one day and found the screen time section has time limits. I set mine up so that I can only access a few necessary apps (google maps, lyft, ynab. etc.) from 10:30pm to 5:00am. It’s been about a week since I’ve done that, but it’s significantly helped my evening routine, since I can’t mindlessly browse social media sites at night in bed. I also set the screen color to change at 9:45pm, which helps to remind me I should start getting ready for bed instead of using my phone.
My biggest screen time problem is with news s*tes and this s*te, which are really hard to block with app blockers! I spent a lot of money for the s*te blocker Freedom last weekend, which works very well on my phone (where I use Safari) but less well on my iPad (where I use Chrome). So far it’s been an improvement, though.