We've heard plenty about helping parents to manage their children's screen time, but it turns out that could be driven by the parent's own need to switch off their phones, according to research from the mobile carrier Three UK. The company found that 64% of British adults thought their phones made their lives easier but 58% of respondents said they found managing screen time challenging.
Common complaints about smartphones were that they distract from conversations and promote doomscrolling. A third of the respondents said that there was not enough support or guidance being offered on how to manage screen time - so Three will be launching help across its stores and online called Screen Time training.
The mobile carrier said it's training its 2,300 retail staff to teach Screen Time tips to consumers. Customers will be taught how to use their device's built-in screen time management tools and advised on mindful approaches to using their device.
Three said that most phones today come with tools to manage screen time but only 25% bother to use them. Even if these tools are used to limit the amount of time spent on apps, it's easy to disable them and spend too much on the phone that way too.
Aside from tools built into operating systems, other popular methods people use to spend less time on their phones include switching their device off or going into airplane mode, putting the phone out of sight, and changing the placement of apps on the home screen.
For the scheme, Three UK has teamed up with Dr Jack Lewis, a neuroscientist who was consulted on the measures. He said:
"For too long we’ve focused almost entirely on the time children spend on their mobile devices. Now is the time to arm adults with the right resources and help they need to feel in charge of their screen time to ensure that it's positive and purposeful. My challenge to you is to look closely at your phone habits, reflect on them, and start actively building better habits."
Dr Jack Lewis suggests people follow the simple ABC rule. A means asserting control over your device and not letting it control you; B means being intentional, you should stop for 10 seconds after picking up your phone to decide what you will do and how long you'll spend doing it before you put the phone away; C means come up for air, this is where you look at your screen time reports once a week and reflect on how much was time well spent, you should also decide how to improve the overall quality of your screen time.
Smartphone users are frequently compared to zombies due to the amount of time people spend on them only paying partial attention to people. Hopefully, this scheme will help people break their addiction to their phones for some face-to-face interaction instead.
Source: Three
3 Comments - Add comment