digitalwellbeing
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YouTube can tell you to stop watching and go to sleep
YouTube's bedtime reminder feature is available on iPhone and Android as of today.
How to manage your child’s screen time
In an age when we all have a tiny computer in our pockets, it's important that we learn to limit screen time in favor of actual human interaction and productivity. It's even more essential that we limit media consumption for children, especially since they're being exposed to things like phones and tablets at an increasingly younger age. Those devices are part of kids' lives earlier than ever, so it's important to keep tabs on how often they use them or watch TV. There are a number of reasons why you should do this as a parent, and, ironically, there's also a range of tech available to help with the task.
Android's Digital Wellbeing tools come to more phones
Google's Digital Wellbeing tools have helped balance the lives of only Android One and Pixel phone users so far, but that's about to change. The tech giant is making Digital Wellbeing available to devices beyond its official Android experience, starting with the Moto G7 lineup. More partners are in the pipeline, Google said, although it didn't drop any clues as to which phone makers are next in line.
ActionDash brings 'digital well being' tracking to more Android phones
Late last year Google released a Digital Wellbeing app that surfaced insights about exactly how much you're using your phone, and in which apps. Apple installed a similar feature in iOS 12 with Screen Time, but on Android, Google's app only works with a few phones running Android P. For everyone else, there's now another option -- ActionDash, a free app from the developer of Action Launcher and Tweet Lanes. It keeps a record of everything from screen time, to which apps were opened and how many notifications were delivered.
Google rolls out Digital Wellbeing tools for Android
Earlier this year during its I/O conference, Google announced new tools to help users manage their screen time. Now, it's rolling out Digital Wellbeing to Google Pixel phones and Android One devices with Android 9 Pie. Digital Wellbeing gives Android users a look at how much time they've spent on apps as well as how often they've unlocked their phones and how many notifications they've received. It also offers the ability to set time limits on app usage. Additionally, with Wind Down users can limit what notifications come through during a certain time period and have the option of switching their screens to grayscale.
Google Home updates may help you wind down at night
While Google has yet to launch its digital wellbeing features on Android phones, it's already thinking of how to bring them to the smart speaker in your living room. The 9to5Google team has discovered material in the the latest Google app for Android that points to these digital health features coming to Home speakers and other Assistant-equipped devices. While the exact functionality isn't clear, there's a Downtime feature that could stop people from using Home at certain times of the day, such as when they're winding down at the end of the night. That could be particularly helpful if you have a bad habit of playing music or asking questions when you should be getting to bed.
Bumble adds a 'Snooze' feature to encourage digital detox
More and more app developers are recognizing that sometimes, it's good to take a break from your phone and other devices. Bumble is the latest company to take part in this trend. The dating, networking and friendship set of apps now offers a "Snooze" mode, which allows you to take a break for a day, three days, a week or indefinitely.
YouTube adds watch time totals to its digital wellness features
In May, Google announced new features for Android P and YouTube that would help users better manage their screen time. And today, the company has announced an additional feature that will help people get a better grasp of just how much YouTube they watch. In a blog post today, Google described a new profile that will show you how long you've spent watching YouTube videos today, yesterday and in the past seven days as well as your daily average.
Google Calendar auto-rejects meetings when you're on vacation
No longer will you have to meekly reply to someone to say you can't get to a meeting they set up in Google Calendar when you're already on vacation. The scheduling app will now do the work for you, as Google continues to promote digital wellbeing.
I hope Google won’t nag me about my digital wellbeing
We all know someone who could benefit from a digital time-out. You know the type: phone attached to the hand, posture permanently hunched in a looking-down-at-the-screen slouch, plagued with ailments like phantom vibrations and sleep texting. Most of the disruptions I receive each day are things like incessant notifications from Photos telling me I have new selfie collages ready, or Maps asking me to rate the 300 hotels I walk by in New York every day. Google services can be needy as fudge, but like a sucker I get dragged into looking at my phone and clearing out alerts. I can't help myself, and Google isn't helping me either.
Here’s what you won’t find in the Android P beta
Developers and enthusiasts have had access to a very early version of Android P for a while now, but Google has made it more easily accessible to the brave with the launch of its public Android P Beta. At this point, you can get it up and running on 11 devices, but a considerable chunk of the features Google talked up during its keynote aren't actually there yet. Bummer. The broad strokes are well understood at this point, but (thankfully) we got to play with a slightly more feature-complete version of Android P inside Google's sandbox demo space. We'll continue to play with the publicly available Android P Beta, so expect a deeper dive soon, but one thing is clear after playing with a more-complete version: Android P is only going to get more capable in time.
Five ways Android P changes how you will (or won't) use your phone
Google has pulled a surprising switcheroo, designing Android P to help you reduce your smartphone usage while also making it less irritating and more approachable. To pull that off, it added a big dose of artificial intelligence smarts, iPhone X–like swiping gestures, and a new "digital wellbeing" dashboard. It may even help with that perennial smartphone issue: battery life. Should you decide to try Android P -- and you can, today, on a variety of devices via the public beta -- here's a guide to the major features that could make you more efficient and less attached to your smartphone, in a good way.
