Google is introducing a new feature for the Digital Wellbeing part of the system, which aims to help us better control the time we spend on smartphones.
Last month, Android Authority noticed an interesting change in the “Digital Wellbeing” Android app.. Entitled ” Screen time reminder “, this addition takes a more subtle approach than blocking apps outright. It manifests itself a discreet pill-shaped notification that appears at the top of the screen when the user spends too much time on the selected app.
This notification displays the time spent in the affected app and subtly prompts the user to reconsider their usage and possibly close the app to be more productive. Access is intended nurturing rather than restrictiveso the user has the final choice of their behavior.
How to activate the new functionality in the digital well-being application?
It couldn’t be easier to activate this feature: just go to “settings”. Digital Balance and Parental Controls » on your smartphone select the option “ Screen time reminder », then activate the reminder and select the relevant apps. The system will then automatically notify you when you exceed a certain usage time.
This new feature represents a significant advance in Google’s approach to digital well-being. Rather than imposing strict limits, the company opted for a more gentle methodallowing users to be aware of their digital habits while maintaining their freedom of action.
This feature comes at the right time as more and more users strive to build a healthier relationship with their digital devices. By offering a tool for raising awareness rather than a restrictive system, Google seems to have found it an interesting balance between helping to manage screen time and respecting user autonomy. This innovative approach could well define our relationship to managing the time spent on our smartphones, provided of course that users activate this functionality in the application. Unfortunately, it suffersit has had a bad reputation for several years due to its power consumptionand this may deter some users from using it.