• A new feature in the iPhone operating system shows how much time you spend on your phone.
• You'll be able to download it this fall.
• People are going to be shocked about the number of hours per day they spend on their phone.
And when everyone gets access to iOS 12, it's going to surprise millions of people. Tucked into the updated iPhone settings menu is a new collection of features called Screen Time. It collects data on how many times you use your phone and how many times you pick it up. It also includes statistics on which apps you use most, and how many notifications you receive.
I was shocked. This week, I picked up my phone about 248 times per day on average. I use my phone for so many hours on a daily basis I'm embarrassed to share the exact number, but it's upwards of 5 hours.
Before I looked at these stats, I didn't think I had a phone problem. I've actively tried to limit notifications, and I try really hard not to check my phone during meetings or conversations, so I'm not being rude to people around me.
I'm still not sure if I have a phone problem, but I may simply be in denial. The fact is that I'm using my phone for a huge number of my waking hours — a way higher percentage than I would have guessed without these stats.
Not alone
I'm not alone in being surprised at the statistics in Apple's Screen Time feature. At Apple's annual developer conference, which took place in San Jose, California earlier this month, hundreds of software engineers downloaded and installed the beta version of iOS with Screen Time, and many of them were surprised too.
The Screen Time feature was a common topic of conversation among the people who had travelled to California to learn how to best make software for Apple computers. But like myself, many attendees who would discuss phone overuse in general were also hesitant to share their official stats, as if they were an embarrassing secret.
Even Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, said that the numbers surprised him.
"I've been using it and I have to tell you: I thought I was fairly disciplined about this. And I was wrong," Cook said "When I began to get the data, I found I was spending a lot more time than I should."
Which apps was he using the most?
"I don't want to give you all the apps. But too much. And the number of times I picked up the phone were too many," Cook continued. "I also found the number of notifications I was getting just didn't make sense anymore. You know, Notifications started out as something to tell you about something really important happening. And all too often now, it's like everything is important."
According to Cook, though, Apple isn't worried that giving this information to users could impact Apple's business.
There is some hope that Apple's new features — as well as similar updates from Google— may start changing the focus around digital health and and shifting cultural assumptions and conventions.
I turned on a Screen Time feature called Downtime. By default, after 10 p.m. it locked me out of every app that wasn't a core feature like calls and texts, including all games and all social networks. I couldn't check Twitter or use Safari until the morning. In practice, it's a lot like a stripped-down "essential mode" suggested by several groups, including Stanford Students Against Addictive Devices.
For me, it worked — for the most part I didn't use my phone after 10. But I ended up checking Twitter or playing games on my laptop or iPad instead. There was also an option to ignore the time limit and use a blocked app anyway, although I never did.
There are going to be all these features, but are they going to assist with helping people actually getting off their phones and do something better with their time. At the end of the day, it's very much in a user's hands to make those decisions."