Google wants to “help people find a better balance with technology” and just released five digital wellbeing experiments to help you unwind around your devices.
Yes, the same day when they made headlines around the world for achieving quantum supremacy and leaving supercomputers in the dust.
There’s an old saying that says you can’t heal in the same environment that made you sick in the first place but hey, who among us is really ready to give up their devices or feeds?
At least with these experiments, there are some new tools you can use to decompress.
Let’s see how they work to enhance your relationship with your device and the world around you.
The Post Box aggregates all your notifications and shows them to you at set hours during the day.
This is a popular productivity hack: to avoid useless distractions, instead block a time slot to deal with them, then get back to what you were doing.
To understand just how much you pick up your phone, there’s Unlock Clock, a wallpaper that keeps track of how many times you pick up your phone per day and actually unlock it.
Yes, with some notifications on the screen, you can cheat this wallpaper a bit by glancing at your phone, but why would you? Post Box makes sure there’s nothing there.
The third and fourth experiments are more about restraining (and possibly retraining) your use of apps. With Morph you can group apps by ‘Exercise’ or ‘Work’ and with Desert Island you have to take the challenge of only using the most essential apps for 24 hours.
Lastly, there’s a WeFlip app that’s designed to make you stay off your phone during outings with friends.
All of these Google Digital Wellbeing Experiments are part of a platform that hopefully “will inspire developers and designers to create experiments and put Digital Wellbeing at the center of what they build in the future,” says Google.
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