In the upcoming iOS 12 software for iPhone and iPad, Apple will include a slate of new features focused on digital well-being.
There’s a Do Not Disturb feature that will keep notifications from pinging your home screen at night (you can turn notifications off at any time, so it works for those who tend to be distracted during work, too). The new initiative also includes a summary that will tell you how much time you spend on each app, as well as which app sends you the most notifications.
There’s also a new “downtime” function that will limit the time you can spend on certain apps (Apple presented it as a tool parents can use to keep their kids from playing on their phones and tablets for too long). “Downtime” will lock out certain apps at certain times, and it can send you notifications and alerts when you’re nearing the limits you set for yourself. You’ll receive an activity report on how you interact with these features, too. Parents can control kids’ devices from their own devices, so you can be super sneaky.
This is another step in a huge trend toward “digital wellness” in tech. Turns out, maybe all this screen time may be bad for us? We’ll come back to you on that.
