Stop Doom Scrolling with iOS Screen Time

It happened two weeks ago where I got a weekly notification on my iPhone about my Screen Time usage.

The day before, my wife and I just finished watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix, which showcases the addictive nature of Social Media apps. So naturally, I decided to take a look at my stats to see which apps were taking up most of my time.

To my surprise, this particular week, I had spent 5 hours looking at TikTok videos.

While there’s plenty of fun content on TikTok to watch, it made me realize how much time I was wasting on pointless activities that I could put to better use.

I decided to take advantage of iOS’s Screen Time settings to limit certain apps to 5-10 minutes per day, and then turn off access to all but a few apps after around 10:30 PM.

After a week of doing this, my use of productive apps such as Kindle, Instapaper, and Craft (all used for reading and writing) became my top-used apps. Additionally, I’ve read half a book within the week, where normally I would only read about 15% of a book.

Moral of the story: Social Media and doom scrolling can be a trap. You may be surprised to find out how much time you are wasting within these apps that can be put to more productive use.

If your device gives you the ability to limit your time within certain apps, take advantage of it. You can use your screen time for learning and creating, or even just putting your phone down and being more present.