What is Digital Wellbeing and how can it help? - Android Authority

While digital technology continues to make a positive impact on our lives in many different ways, scientific research has proven that it also comes with an exceedingly detrimental dark side.

Consider, for instance, this study by Duke University, which established a profound link between technology overuse and increased mental health issues.

It's because of such concerns that digital wellbeing is exceedingly gaining ground across the globe. This article explains what it's all about and how you stand to benefit from digital wellness strategies.

What Is Digital Wellbeing?

Digital wellness

As a personal health concept, digital wellbeing – or digital wellness – is all about creating and maintaining a benign relationship with technology. The movement seeks to mitigate the harmful effects of technology by regulating how and when to use digital devices and platforms.

Digital wellbeing practitioners essentially use physical and virtual controls to set boundaries that promote healthy habits. You'll find, for example, smartphone users muting notifications to avoid interruptions, office workers rocking blue-light-blocking glasses to prevent eyestrain, or gaming geeks setting screen time limits to focus on other important tasks.

According to Google's 2019 Consumer Survey, a third of Americans had been taking such steps during the year in the hope of improving their digital wellbeing. And, as a result, 80% were happy to report that the actions had indeed improved their overall sense of wellness.

The Digital Wellbeing app by Google

Google itself was quick to jump on the trend with its Digital Wellbeing app, baked right into Android itself. It gives users the tools to track their phone usage patterns plus time spent on each app.

According to Google's CEO Sundar Pichai, the Digital Wellbeing app is driven by the idea that people should enjoy life, not the technology in it. He explained that through its reports and tools, people would learn to break away from their FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and embrace JOMO (Joy of Missing Out).

You get to disconnect from tech when necessary, and maybe use the time to live your life to the fullest.

How Does The Digital Wellbeing App Work?

Joe Hindy / Android Authority

The Digital Wellbeing app is built to operate as a holistic platform, offering tools for analysis and control. This is where Android users come to discover how they've been using their smartphones, as well as manage their usage limits for a healthier, more balanced lifestyle.

On the app's dashboard, for instance, you'll find visual reports revealing the time you've spent on your phone, the apps taking up most of your attention, the number of times you've unlocked your phone, plus the notification count. This should help you confirm your level of smartphone addiction, and the apps at the center of it all. Then to address the problem, Google has thrown in tools for customizing your experiences.

You can cut down on what's not important and restrict app usage to only when it's necessary. For example, it's possible to set timers on selected applications and websites. This is where you create rules to dictate how long your favorite apps or sites will remain active each day.

Digital Wellbeing has all the tools you need to block out tech-related distractions.

If you're always getting overwhelmed by never-ending strings of intrusive notifications, the Digital Wellbeing app can still save you from all that misery. It comes with various tools for customizing all forms of phone notifications – allowing you to pick out the ones you'd like to see and the times you'd prefer to receive them.  You could, for instance, group the notifications based on urgency and relevance. At least with that level of segmentation, you should be able to block off all the unimportant alerts at once. You just need to hit the snooze button and Google's Digital Wellbeing app will handle the rest.

On the other hand, if you intend to do away with all the notifications, the system provides a convenient "Do Not Disturb" feature. One tap is all it takes and all the incoming notifications will be hidden, keeping the screen clear of any distractions. You can even further customize it by allowing select contacts in when in Do No Disturb, such as co-workers or family.

The "Bedtime Mode" takes it all up a notch by automatically engaging "Do No Disturb" when you're in bed. That means you get to have a good night's sleep, devoid of rude interruptions from apps and notifications. It even can turn your screen grayscale during sleeping hours and other tweaks that make it easier to put your phone down for the night. Google's Digital Wellbeing doesn't stop there, though. It further tops that off with what it calls "Focus Mode".

And just as the name suggests, the mode is optimized to raise your focus levels and make you more productive at work. It's the feature you turn to when you want to temporarily disable all those addictive apps that take up a chunk of your precious work time.

How to get started with the Google Digital Wellbeing app

Google's Digital Wellbeing app comes embedded in all post-2018 Android OS versions. However, you won't find it as an icon on your main app menu. Just go to "Settings" and scroll down to "Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls". Or, alternatively, you could simply search for "Digital Wellbeing" via the settings search tool.

If for some reason, the app is not on your Android smartphone, you can still download it from the Google Play Store. The Digital Wellbeing app is completely free of charge and compatible with all Android devices running the Google Services Framework.

Once you have the app up and running, you can then proceed to:

• Set app screen time limits: by tapping Dashboard, selecting one of the apps, and then hitting App Timer. You just need to specify the hours and voila!
• Set website screen limits: by tapping Dashboard, picking out the browser in use, and then selecting Show sites that you visit, followed by Show in the subsequent pop-up. You can now choose the site and set its time restrictions.
• Set Bedtime Mode: by tapping on Bedtime mode and then selecting your preferred approach. You can pick Based on schedule to define the time and days, or While charging at bedtime to only activate Bedtime Mode when your phone is plugged in at night.
• Set Focus Mode: by tapping on Focus mode and then choosing all the apps you'd want to pause. When you're done, you could pick Turn on now to run it, or Set a schedule to launch automatically at your preferred times.

Google Digital Wellbeing's Sister App: Google Family Link

Joe Hindy / Android Authority

For parents who'd like to extend digital wellness to their kids, it turns out that Google's Digital Wellbeing app isn't really suited for the job. That role has been left to its sibling Google Family Link, which is available on the Play Store as a separate app.

This is, in fact, where you'll be redirected if you try to manage parental controls using the Digital Wellbeing app. Keep in mind, however, that unlike the digital wellness app, Google Family Link is available even to iOS users. They should be able to access it directly from the App Store.

Whichever mobile platform you belong to, the installation process shouldn't end with you. There's a separate app version for your kid's devices.

Once you've finally networked the entire family, Google Family Links allows you to control various elements in your kid's devices. You can remotely set daily screen limits, monitor their device usage patterns, manage app installs, track device location, etc.

5 Best Google Digital Wellbeing Alternatives

Google isn't the only software developer that has caught on to the digital wellness movement. There are many app creators who've been working in the shadows all along, and some of the resultant products are proving to be as impactful as Google's Digital Wellbeing ecosystem – with a couple even enjoying better ratings across both mobile and PC platforms. We have an entire article dedicated to alternative tools for digital wellness that is absolutely worth the read. 

Here's just three to help you get started however:

ActionDash

Price: Free

ActionDash works a lot like Google's Digital Wellbeing. The core focus of the app is to show your screen time in various apps, nudge you to cut down on screen time, and show you other usage stats. It helps with this by locking you out of your apps if you tell it to. It also identifies apps that leave a lot of notifications so you can consider turning them off.

By showing you stats, the app wants you to make it kind of like a game to lower them. Lowering the stats means less time on your phone and more time doing more important stuff. It's a good premise and a nice way to lower your screen time.

Digital Detox

Price: Free

Digital Detox takes the digital wellbeing concept and makes it a challenge. There are various challenge modes you can activate to help you reduce your screen time. It uses device administrator permissions to limit how often you use your phone and what you use while you're on it. The app uses accountability to keep users honest. You can, of course, turn it off and ignore all of it if you want to, but that's not really the point, is it?

The multiple difficultly levels let you start small and work your way up so you can break your phone addiction.

Digitox

Price: Free / $5.00

Digitox works a bit like ActionDash. It shows you stats based on your usage along with stuff like how much time you spend in any given app. You can better understand your habits and what you need to cut back on in order to use your phone in a more healthy way. Plus, the app lets you set timers for your usage and delivers warnings when you reach them.

Since smartphones are productivity tools, the app even calculates for the productive time when you do things like answer emails or work in an office app. It's a decent overall solution that compares favorably with ActionDash.

Aside from these and the ones listed in our separate guide, we'd also like to honorably mention the following:

• Screen Time: Screen Time, in simple terms, is the Apple version of Google's Digital Wellbeing app. It has been developed by Apple Inc to provide iPadOS and iOS users with reports on their device usage, along with tools for setting app limits.
  And yes – just like Google's Digital Wellbeing app, Screen Time is accessible from the settings menu.
• Usage Time: Usage Time happens to be one of the biggest rivals to the Google Digital Wellbeing app. It's a free Android app that you can install from the Play Store to do exactly what the Digital Wellbeing app is built for. It basically helps users overcome their smartphone addiction through strategic rationing. You get to keep tabs on your phone usage behaviors, set time limits on various apps, plus place restrictions on notification pop-ups.
• Stay Focused: Not to be confused with the "StayFocusd" Chrome extension, this is an Android and iOS app that operates as an app blocker and website blocker.Thanks to its powerful tools for dynamically cutting off websites, apps, and keywords based on user-defined conditions, you can reclaim all the valuable work hours that you've been losing out to tech addiction.

Why Does Digital Wellbeing Matter?

Digital wellbeing is critical because:

• Concentration: With 41% of people having difficulties focusing on day-to-day tasks due to tech overuse, and 48% admitting they're spending an excessive amount of time online, digital wellbeing strategies are helping reverse the situation by setting time limits.
• Sleep quality: Health reports indicate that the blue light from screens inhibits the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for regulating your sleep-wake cycle. As such, the National Sleep Foundation advises people to practice digital wellbeing by putting smartphones and PCs away for at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Interpersonal relationships: Snapchat's founder and CEO himself acknowledges that while social media generates great business results, it continues to undermine social relationships. His sentiments were further echoed by Facebook's former VP, who insisted that the short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops they developed are killing society as we know it.
• American adults, for instance, are spending 11 hours every day on digital media, which largely explains why 58% of them are now struggling with loneliness. At least with digital wellbeing practices, they can minimize social media use and focus on building interpersonal relationships through physical interactions.

Make no mistake about it, though. Digital wellbeing isn't some magic pill that'll instantly break your addiction. It all comes down to your discipline and dedication.

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