2018-12-27CNN

Are you readyto break up with your phone?

There is a growing sense of unease among many smartphone ownersabout the amount of time we're spending on our devices.

Google toldme that around 70% of the Android users it spoke to wanted to "find a betterbalance" in their tech use.

But thisputs the tech sector in an awkward spot. How can it help its customers detachfrom their phones when, for many firms, their business model relies on themdoing the opposite?

Both Appleand Google have this year released digital tools - called Screen Time andDigital Wellbeing respectively - which let iPhone and Android users see howmuch time they are spending on various apps and how often they pick up theirdevices.

ManyAndroid users will not have it yet as it is part of the Android Pie operatingsystem, which has only been released by a handful of phone brands so far.

For thosewho have seen it, the results can come as a bit of a shock.

On my firstday with Android's Digital Wellbeing tracker, I unlocked my phone 200 times andspent more than three hours on it. This was alongside working a long shift inthe BBC newsroom and being a mum. I'm sure it wasn't all WhatsApp banter andCats of Instagram but I was still horrified, to put it politely.

Rose LaPrairie is a London-based Google engineer who was on the team which developedthe tool.

She told methat the tech giant was well aware people might feel "guilt or shame"when confronted with the data for the first time, so designing the interface tobe non-judgemental was crucial.

"Part of itwas making sure we didn't do things like big red arrows or big green arrows, ortrying to make a judgement, or an assessment, of what is good or bad," shesaid.

"When itcomes down to it, when we talk to people, it very much depends on theindividual, so what's good for me might not be good for someone else."

Ms La Prairiethinks that most people should be able to self-regulate by using the product.

"For somepeople seeing the data will be enough, it's that reminder of how you spend yourtime and what you do on your phone." she said.

"There willbe some people who will need a little extra reminder, and I put myself in thatcamp."

For thosepeople, the dashboard can be set to mute notifications, make the phone displaygo black and white at a certain time (such as bedtime) and set an alert after acertain amount of screen time on an app.

But it is notreally in Google's interests for you to not be on your phone, is it?

'Goodexperience'

Unlike Apple'shardware-focused business model, Google is advertising-driven and that verymuch requires eyeballs on screens.

"I thinkwhat we really care about is making sure users have a good experience," MsLa Prairie says.

"Peoplewant to figure out how they use their devices in a different way and we reallywant to make sure we can help users with that."

It's worthnoting that what she doesn't say is: "Turn the phone off."

The mobile phoneindustry's response to the issue is, well, interesting. Some firms believe thatthey can wean us off our big screen smartphones with the help of… smallerscreen smartphones.

Devices like theNokia phone from HMD Global and the tiny Palm phone are marketed as companiondevices - in Nokia's case with less functionality, in Palm's case just smaller- to give us a break from our main device.

"It's quiteapparent that the industry still wants to keep selling phones," said CCSInsight analyst Ben Wood.

"It is alittle bit ironic that they are trying to sell you a little phone to do thesame thing [as your big phone]."

Ultimately, MrWood believes it really comes down to willpower.

"You canhave all the different types of gadgets but it's down to you as an individualhow much you want to spend time on your phone," he said.

Catherine Pricewrote the book How To Break Up With Your Phone after having a baby andrealising one day that the baby was watching her and she was watching hermobile.

"I realisedI didn't want that to be her impression of a human relationship, but I alsodidn't want it to be the way that I was living my own life," she said.

"Breakingup with your phone does not mean dumping your phone or throwing it under a bus,it just means taking a step back to create a relationship that is actually goodfor you. It's becoming friends with your phone."

In her book, MsPrice lists a 30-day plan to reclaim this "friendship". Her top tipsinclude:

[if !supportLists]§ [endif]Turn off all the notificationsyou can bear to. Just leave the ones you actually want; for me that is phonecalls and text messages because they are real people trying to contact me, inparticular, in real time - plus my calendar and maps

[if !supportLists]§ [endif]rearrange your home screen sothat it only contains apps that have a practical purpose that are not tempting.Your home screen should not have email, or social media, or the news or a datingapp, or games. Put them into a folder on an interior page so you can't seetheir icons, you have to actively open them

[if !supportLists]§ [endif]Get your phone out of yourbedroom. You will need to have something on your bedside table that takes theplace of the phone… like a book. When you go to reach for that phone you willencounter the book instead

[if !supportLists]§ [endif]Get a standalone alarm clock. Ifyour phone is your alarm clock you are guaranteeing that your phone will be thefirst thing you interact with in the morning

[if !supportLists]§ [endif]There is a plug-in calledFacebook Demetricator, which stops you seeing you how many times your post hasbeen "liked". You still may go back to see that people have likedyour post, but you're not going to be checking compulsively to see when 17 getsto 20 and 25 gets to 30 - it can help break that habit.

As for me -well, I've got over the shock of seeing how often I reach for my phone. Buthave I changed?

'Feel guilty'

I still findmyself on my device, having picked it up to, say, check the weather forecast,only to suddenly find myself on social media 10 minutes later, still with noidea about whether or not I need an umbrella.

That said, I dogenuinely use my handset a lot for work, to navigate my way around, and to keepup with the endless communications from my children's school. I tell Ms LaPrairie I'd like to be able to differentiate between time well-spent on mysmartphone and time wasted.

Apparently I'mnot the only one.

"The way wethink about use is intentional and unintentional, and people really care aboutthe unintentional because it makes you feel guilty," she tells me.

"A greatversion would be how to we crack that nut, and distinguish between intentionaland unintentional."

So is 2019 goingto be the year we break up with our phones? Analyst Mr Wood isn't convinced.

"For me,2019 is the year when people are going to be more aware of the amount of timethey are spending on their phones," he said.

"Butbreaking up with their phones? That's a very big ask."

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