When I first heard of Apple’s Screen Time widget, I honestly paid it no mind. I didn’t see what all the hype was about, so I was in no rush to update my phone and get it, but y’all once I say this little widget has helped me tremendously!
It has now been over a year and a half since I have been fully self-employed, and let me tell you, it has not as easy as it sounds or as others may make it appear to be. While I have always been a self starter, one of my biggest struggles was motivating myself to get up and get things done DAILY. It is all too easy to get caught up on social media, minding everyone’s business but not my own. And on a more personal note, for those who may not know, I don’t care for social media as much as I used to. If I spend too much time on it, I am guilty of comparing myself to others, and we all know how unhealthy that is mentally.
So I began to really monitor the Screen Time widget to see what exactly was I doing with my time. With the widget, we are able to see:
- The categories of the apps we are using frequently e.g.,
+Social Networking- Instagram, Messages, Facebook…
+Productivity- the apps we use to run both our lives and our business(es) like banking apps, mobile website apps
+Creativity- Photos and image making apps, camera
And MORE, these are just my top 3. I know, I need to get my Health & Fitness up! Don’t judge me, but I often log my sessions afterwards and not during the actual time.
- Exactly how much time we average in those apps
+shows in hours and minutes
+we can set limits to help keep better track of our time
- How many times we pick our phones up in a day- Yea, this one really got me though.
- How many notifications we receive in a day- This is why I no longer have notifications on for many apps. I don’t need all those distractions putting me into reaction mode versus responding mode.
Now keep in mind the widget only shows you what you are doing with your phone when it is unlocked. So if you are using GPS or something, it will still count and categorize that, which can throw your data off somewhat, but if you open the widget and view where the time was spent exactly, you better understand.
It took me a few weeks to get my screen time down, but I was determined to do so after seeing enough memes about people who live in their phones or always have their phones in their hands. For starters, I upgraded my Buffer and got serious. I don’t want to be a zombie, and I do want to be more present in my life, so this widget turned out to be one of my favorite things about #TeamiPhone. Furthermore, seeing that I was not wasting so much time on social media helped to ease some of the guilt I often feel when I feel like I am not doing enough.
We live in the data and information age, so why are we not using this info to be our best selves? If you have an iPhone, this is one way to better take control of your life.
