Google products are used by billions of us all over the world meaning that they have a lot of impact on our daily habits. Because of this fact they have a huge role in issues like the worlds reliability on these mobile devices that control our lives.
“The anticipated shift in tone at the event reflects increased public skepticism and scrutiny of the technology industry as it reckons with the negative consequences of how its products are used by billions of people.”
Google Responds to Smartphone Addiction
Sources told the Washington Post Google will add new features to future versions of Android to help people and their families monitor and manage the amount of screen time they spend on their mobile devices. This seems to be Google’s response to many reports that young people are being afflicted by their “smartphone addiction”.
There are many apps out there that already do this although none of them do it naturally in the OS itself. Even Google has apps that do this like their Family Link but its not something that all users just have baked in. No other mobile OS has more than minimal scene management features and this could be one more thing to push Android in front of others.
“When it comes to family controls, Google is already a step ahead. Google offers Family Link, a suite of tools that allows parents to regulate how much time their children can spend on apps and remotely lock their child’s device. Family Link gives parents weekly reports on children’s app usage and offers controls to approve the apps kids download.”
Apps to manage screen time
If you can’t wait for Google to add this to the OS itself there are a few screen time managers out there right now worth using. These aren’t going to be foolproof but they do seem to work well.
- Flipd – Keep Focused – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flipd.app
- Forest – Stay Focused – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cc.forestapp&hl=en
- OFFTIME – Distraction Free – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.offtime.kit&hl=en
- AppDetox – App Blocker for Digital Detox – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.dfki.appdetox&hl=en
Nobody seems to know yet if Android P will get these features that have been mentioned although we will know soon enough during Google I/O.