| > We need to start talking about how to configure Screen Time on iOS, or how to use Facebook's built-in tools to hide content you don't want to see. We also need to encourage people to take control of their feeds, muting users and topics who draw them into unproductive discussions. This is going to make a world of difference the first time people try it. I started monitoring screen time/configuring notifications about a year ago, and made me feel a lot better about the time I spent on my phone. But, all of this assumes that social media should (and will) stay the same as it currently is with addictive never ending feeds and endless notifications. At the end of last year I sat down thought of what social media could look like if it was designed to be used less, and in a way that would add value to people. For me, that looked like intentional written reflections, shared with a small circle of close friends and family. To keep me from scrolling, there would be no feed. To keep me from checking my phone, content would rarely be surfaced. This ended up becoming Sundayy, a mindful social network that you can only check once a week (on Sunday): https://www.sundayy.app Each day you're prompted to slow down and reflect, but there is no feed of reflections. They're all kept secret, for now. At the end of the week, on Sunday, reflections are revealed. It's a more intimate insight into how people close to you lived their week - day by day and in their own words. We should definitely bring more awareness to monitoring screen time and curating feeds, but we should also question whether we should have to do any of that at all :) |
While well-intentioned, I think it's likely people will simply be checking Sunday and Facebook.