Phone Addiction- What is the Solution?

by Alex Porter

In recent times the invention of the touch screen mobile phone has changed how the world communicates. The most famous and most widely used of all mobiles is the iPhone which was created by Apple in 2007. Although, the product today has its benefits, it also has its disadvantages. The main negative being that users can become addicted to it. This is mainly through notifications and prompts that appear on it throughout the day; this means the more that people use it, the more often they rely on it. For example, having to check every minute to see if they have received a text, or a response to their latest post on Instagram or how many views there have been on their last snapchat post. Now Apple themselves, have found a way to tackle this problem, which is becoming a world-wide problem.

In its annual developers conference last month, Apple announced new ‘do no disturb’ controls for its phones and tablets. This means users are able to prevent the phone from sending notifications. This is especially helpful in solving the concerns about it damaging mental health. These controls mean that during specific periods, like bedtime, the user can set to block arriving messages/notifications from appearing on the lock screen. Including this, the company will also group notifications by topics, so they are not so much of an eye-saw. This will then give the user a weekly breakdown of their usage, and allow  them to be able to set limits on time they and/or their children spend on certain apps e.g.social media and games.

Five months prior to Apple’s announcement, two key Apple shareholders wrote an open letter strongly suggesting adding more parental controls, and the need for studying the impact of repeated use of iPhones on mental health. Apple therefore took note of these inquiries and quickly acted on them which means that changes will be coming out with IOS 12 during Autumn this year.