Reduced Screen Time Through iPhone's Native Features: My Success with Doomscrolling Reduction Strategies, Now with Over Two Years of Decreased Usage
In the digital age, smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. However, excessive use of these devices can lead to negative effects on mental and physical health, particularly among Gen Z and Millennials. To combat this, major phone manufacturers like Apple, Google, and Samsung have introduced features to help monitor and reduce screen time.
One such feature is Apple's Do Not Disturb, which silences notifications and hides notification badges during scheduled sessions. This feature, customizable with settings for exemptions, screen dimming, and customizing the Lock and Home screen, can significantly decrease screen time. Similar functionality is available on Android phones and Samsung devices.
The use of these features can offer promising benefits. Users have reported reduced feelings of anxiety and improved well-being after reducing compulsive phone usage. For example, one personal report shows that halving daily screen time led to better mental health outcomes.
Reducing screen time also helps mitigate physical health issues, such as eye strain and fatigue. Research shows that one hour of social media scrolling can cause significant eye strain by decreasing blink rate and increasing the interval between blinks, raising risks of visual fatigue.
However, the effectiveness of these native features varies and often depends on user adherence and additional strategies. Users often override limits, so stronger support methods like involving a partner to set PINs or using password managers to lock features can improve enforcement. Some adopt more extreme behavioral changes, such as switching to less distracting phones (dumb phones) or deleting social media accounts, which users report can better reduce digital addiction and improve real-world engagement.
In addition to using built-in tools, using browsers (not apps) to access social media, setting internet downtime (disabling Wi-Fi or cellular data at night), and uninstalling addictive apps are recommended to increase "friction" and reduce usage.
Major iOS updates often include improvements to health and wellness features. For instance, iOS 18.5 is expected to include an upgrade to Screen Time for potential self-accountability. Similarly, Android phones offer more customization but can require third-party apps and more effort to implement.
In conclusion, phone features designed to reduce screen time offer a promising but not foolproof approach to improving mental and physical health in Gen Z and Millennials. Their success depends on consistent use, limiting override behaviors, and often supplementing with lifestyle or behavioral changes to combat technology-related dopamine-driven addictive patterns.
In the realm of health and wellness, reducing screen time through the use of technology-driven features like Apple's Do Not Disturb or similar functionalities on Android devices can significantly improve mental health outcomes. However, for optimal results, lifestyle changes such as switching to less distracting phones or deleting social media accounts might be necessary to break free from digital addiction and enhance real-world engagement.
