The company knows your addiction to its devices is making you miserable.
The next version of iOS will also now have built in time limit controls, so that users can parent themselves about how much time they spend on Instagram or on Facebook, cutting in to the Explore Tab k-hole after an hour or two and letting them know it’s “time to move on.” It’s thrilling that Apple can tell how close everyone is to just throwing their smartphones into the ocean and returning to nature.
They continue by indicating that Apple is not the first company to recognize this. Google, and to some extent, Facebook had earlier “notifications”:
It’s not the first company to do so, either. The tyranny of devices has been covered before: notifications have become so addictive and apps so good at emotionally grabbing everyone by the balls that any time we are so fortunate as to emerge from the vortex for a second, the despair about being trapped in it the only way to solve it is to dive back in or run screaming into the night. Facebook announced earlier this year that it planned to emphasize “time well spent.” As founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote:
“The research shows that when we use social media to connect with people we care about, it can be good for our well-being. We can feel more connected and less lonely, and that correlates with long term measures of happiness and health. On the other hand, passively reading articles or watching videos — even if they’re entertaining or informative — may not be as good.”