A prominent issue within today’s society that’s focused on (but not limited to) our younger generation is how addicted we are to our phones, social media and the repercussions from such addictions. Within the articles, “9 Subtle Ways Technology is Making Humanity Worse,” and “Negative Effects of Technology: What to Know,” they go into great depth on how addictive technology truly is and the issues that it’s addiction presents like sleep deprivation and insomnia. With a phone being just about the first thing my colleagues and I check in the morning and the last things we scroll through at night, it’s no coincidence that it is not only an addiction we have to our phones but that our phones are affecting our sleep.
To combat this, I would like to devise an app that limits the screen-on time the user is allowed to have within one day as well as how late they are allowed to use it. As explained within the Business Insider article, “9 Subtle Ways Technology is Making Humanity Worse,” increased exposure to blue light caused by screens and technology, directly impacts your body’s circadian rhythm especially when it is close to bedtime. Therefore, as stated within the MedicalNewsToday article, “Negative Effects of Technology: What to Know,” if the usage of technology that emits blue light is stopped at least one to two hours before bedtime, it can increase sleep quality and combat insomnia.
The app’s main focus is on stopping the use of your smartphone an hour or two before your set bedtime. To do this, it will limit the amount of time you are allowed to spend per day on certain categories of apps like social media or entertainment which will then decrease overall screen-time (exposure to blue light) during the day and before bedtime. Once the allotted time is up for a certain category, it will no longer allow the user to interact or see notifications from those apps unless bypassed by the user. Once all categories have been locked, the phone can only be used for basic necessities such as camera, texting and calling. If the user doesn’t end up using the allotted time throughout the day, the app will automatically lock all categories at a certain set time before bed regardless. The app will also have a dashboard within it to give a brief rundown of things like world news that happened today that is summarized into a sentence or two, as well as calendar updates to act as a central hub for the things that are most important and that intrigue us to use social media.
Creating an app like this, will solve common problems associated with insomnia and getting to bed on time that we all have issues with. By automatically locking addicting social media or entertainment apps at a set time before bed will allow your mind to wind down and your circadian rhythm to fall back into place to offer a good night’s sleep uninterrupted by technology. As apps are time-limited, the idea is that during the day when they are moving around and busy they will have already used up their allotted time where it truly counts so at the end of the day, they will be less inclined to use their phone as it is mainly locked. But this will also beneficially decrease excessive amounts of screen time due to technology addictions as a result. The hopes of adding a simple dashboard with news and some notifications are to offer the user a regulated space with quick info to keep them feeling within the loop once they are locked out of their apps.
I used the “9 Subtle Ways Technology is Making Humanity Worse,” and “Negative Effects of Technology: What to Know,” for my articles.
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