Balancing Digital Life: Managing Screen Time with Online Tools
An estimate shows that an average American user spends 7 hours in front of a screen, whether it’s a laptop, PC, smartphone, or other internet-connected device. The number has grown by 30 minutes every year since 2013, which is an alarming situation.
Living in a digital world, it’s evident now why the masses are spending so much time in front of the screens. However, there are ways that screen time can be reduced to the level where it doesn’t affect the health.
By using screen time tracking apps, users can set screen time limits, enhancing digital detox, that will help rejuvenate off-screen comfort in their lives. For that purpose, we’re sharing some amazing tools and tips that you can check to build healthy digital habits:
Online Tools for Managing Screen Time
Several online apps and programs can help with screen time reduction. Here are some amazing options to try out:
Parental Control Apps
Parental control apps and programs can help parents control screen time for their children. These apps operate based on sessions, controlling the time allotted to the children for using their screens as well as certain websites as dictated by the parents.
Providers, such as Xfinity, offer parental controls with their internet services. You can opt for them or choose a third-party app that gets you customized controls. So, here are some parental control apps to check out:
Qustodio
One of the renowned parental control apps, Qustodio, brings great features to manage screen time for children. One of its appealing features is that it helps limit screen time in specific periods. As parents, you can set the time for your children to access their screens.
Moreover, you can create custom filters that allow quick application. Moreover, it also allows blocking apps so that you can allow your children to access the internet but not access harmful apps.
Plans: free | Basic – $4.58/mon | Complete Plan – $8.33/mon.
Trial period: 30 days
Money-back guarantee: yes
Norton Family
The Norton Family brings custom filters that can be used for managing screen time for your children. It has dedicated filters for various hours i.e., School Time disables access to various websites added to the list, making it easier to add a filter effectively.
The Time Supervision feature, on the other hand, allows you to dedicate time so that your children can access the web for limited hours only.
The app doesn’t allow you to block or limit apps separately. However, with its pre-defined metrics sorted according to different age groups, you can deploy multiple apps with a single click.
Moreover, it also facilitates children by offering them the option of requesting more screen time if needed.
Plans: $4.16/mon.
Trial period: 30 days
Money-back guarantee: yes
Bark
Another choice for a parental control app is Bark. This app allows scheduling online sessions, limiting the time for online apps and websites. As parents, you can add websites and apps that your children can and cannot view during specific hours.
For instance, you can limit access to social media apps during school/ study hours. Though it doesn’t offer extensive features, it’s good for managing screen time for your children.
Plans: Bark Jr. – $49/year | Bark Premium – $14/mon
Trial period: 7 days
Money-back guarantee: None
Screen Time Tracking Apps
Apart from parental control apps, we have screen time tracking applications. These apps are designed to offer insights into how much time you’re spending on your screens. Let’s check them out:
Rescue Time
Offering automatic time tracking with detailed reports, Rescue Time is your best choice for managing screen time and increasing productivity. It also offers offline tracking and a personalized assistant that will keep you posted on your screen time progress.
Moreover, you can easily integrate all third-party apps that you’d be working on, so it makes it easier to minimize distractions while having all work-related sites and apps at your disposal. Remember to set your goals and alerts that would help boost your morale and push you to complete your tasks without getting distracted.
Plans: Free | Monthly – $6.50/mo.
Trial period: 14 days
Money-back guarantee: None
Freedom
If you’re looking to improve your online productivity by managing your screen time, then get Freedom today. The app is designed to block distracting apps and websites so that you can focus on your work.
The amazing thing about Freedom is that it can sync settings on all devices that it’s installed on and can help implement block lists on all devices simultaneously. Just schedule the time you need to work undistracted, set up the block list, and start working right away.
Oh, and it’s available for free but with limited features. You can buy the premium version for individual, school, and organizational usage.
Plans: Free | Monthly – $8.99/mo. | Annual – $3.33/mo. | Forever – $99.50
Trial period: 7 days, access to all features
Money-back guarantee: None, free to use
Flipd
With features of reminders and productivity trackers, Flipd takes screen time monitoring to the next level. It’s focused on making the users mindful of how they spend their time viewing the screen.
As a user, you can lock distracting apps and get your work done without wasting your time gazing at the screen for long hours. In addition, you get added videos for managing your goals. You can also join its community platform and share your goal progress with like-minded people.
You can also set daily, weekly, and monthly trackers to monitor your progress and share it with your friends.
Plans: Free | Flipd Monthly – $5.99/mo. | Flipd Annual – $42.99/year
Trial period: none, free to use
Money-back guarantee: None, free to use
Built-In Smartphone Features for Managing Screen Time
Smartphones of today come with built-in features that allow you to minimize screen time, reduce access to distracting apps, and enable parental controls even. Here are some amazing features that you get and can enable on your smartphones:
App Limits
The app limit feature on your smartphones allows you to minimize app usage time for individual apps. The Digital Well-Being and Parental Control features allow you to set screen time for the apps on your device.
You can check the screen time on the app as well as set the limit for its usage. Once the usage limit is reached, the app will automatically shut down. This feature even notifies you before the app’s timer is about to reach the limit.
Bedtime Mode
As indicated by its name, the Bedtime Mode allows you to set your smartphone aside and get a good hour of sleep. It does so by blocking data usage, which minimizes apps from working. In other words, it sets up a quiet ambiance by minimizing notifications, setting up a custom DND (Do-not-Disturb) mode, and even draining colors (sets them to black and white contrast).
Setting up the bedtime mode can allow you to get better sleep since you won’t spend time in doom scrolling all night.
Focus Mode
Also known as Do Not Disturb mode, Focus Mode allows you to disable all apps and websites and work without getting distracted. This feature only allows starred contacts to reach out to you. All you need to do is select the apps that you use a lot, create a schedule, and get started.
Doing so will allow you to work constantly without getting distracted by notifications or even opening them. It does allow a small accessibility window (5 minutes), after which the app will be paused again for the session.
Strategies for Reducing Screen Time
Reducing your screen time can be daunting but here are some tips and tricks to get started on reducing your screen time:
Promoting Healthy Habits
The first thing you need to do is to promote healthier habits. Well, that’s easier said than done. But here are a few ways that you can develop healthier habits and reduce your screen time:
Mindful Technology Use
You need to be aware of how the technology you’re using is affecting your body and lifestyle. To make sure you don’t fall into this pit:
- Limit your access to various apps that take too much of your time.
- Turn off notifications from apps and programs that keep popping up.
- Use screen monitoring and managing apps.
- Opt for bedtime mode on your smartphone to eliminate nightlong phone usage.
- Try to keep smart devices out of your bedroom to limit your access to them.
Even if you’re just beginning to feel it, spending too much time in front of the screen will have an immense effect on your health and well-being. A study indicated that spending more than 6 hours on average in front of screens induces a greater risk for depression. So, it’s better to limit your screen time to only necessary apps.
Alternative Activities
Why sit in front of screens even if it’s for entertainment? You can dive into tons of other activities that can help you enjoy and spend your time away from the screens. For instance, hitting the gym or taking a walk in the park is an excellent idea.
Plus, too many people are suffering from chronic backaches just because they’ve been spending so much time sitting in front of the screens all day. Bad posture or sitting for too long has been identified as one of the core reasons for lower back pains.
Another research indicated that people sitting in front of the screens for long hours can experience headaches, blurred vision, dry eyes, and other eye-related hazards. So, in order to minimize these, the first thing is to add something that doesn’t involve viewing a screen.
You can:
- Invest yourself in sports or athletics
- Dive into arts and crafting
- Try some recipes
- Read a book
- Attend a live show
- Play board games
- Go on a trip
There’s so much you can do to minimize your screen time and enjoy pleasant activities that will surely amp up your health.
Family Activities
When choosing to spend less time in front of the screens, how about you spend more time with your family? Visit them countryside or gather in a mutually-decided restaurant to bring a change in your routine.
But don’t forget, you’re doing this because you want to reduce your time viewing any screen. So no checking up on your mobile phone when grandma is talking to you.
Balancing Work & Leisure
Work-life balance is hard to maintain, but it’s as important as water in our lives. Here are some tips to follow on maintaining this balance:
Educating Family & Friends
Another important thing in this regard is to educate your family and friends regarding screen time issues and ways to manage them.
Practice screen time management tactics, use the apps to track performance and recommend others to do the same. It will benefit the entire community and will reduce the adverse effects of screen time usage collectively.
