This app could help you take back control of your phone

It actually dawned on me just over a week ago whole watching the first game of the FIFA World Cup. It was only Qatar vs Ecuador so not a game that jumped out of the first round of fixtures at this year’s World Cup, but I was nonetheless looking forward to this one.

It is the World Cup after all. These things only come round once every four years, so I was going to embrace the celebration of football at the very least (the part beyond the football is a separate issue but that’s for another post).

The game got to half time….and I realised I didn’t know anything about what had happened in the game. I didn’t know who was playing well, I couldn’t remember any shots or exciting phases of the game or any of the players that were having a good game.

What had happened? 

There certainly were shots on target and there was even a goal. So why did I have no recollection of what had happened?

Then I realised. I’d been picking up my phone every few minutes. It seems I was checking to see if I’d had any messages on LinkedIn, scrolled through YouTube and got involved in a WhatsApp conversation.

This was pretty shocking. The phone had completely taken away my attention to the point where I was somewhere else. There was no point in me really watching the football as my attention was elsewhere.

So maybe for the football, this was borderline ok. It was a random game that I didn’t really care that much about, but I was a little sad to have “missed” it.

But what else am I missing? 

Am I missing connections with my family? Am I missing some moments with my kids that I will never get back?

So something needed to change. I did some searching through potential solutions and found the One Sec App and I have to say it has changed the game for me.

One Sec helps you bring more purpose to your phone usage by adding just a little friction when you load particular apps that you select. I have added One Sec to LinkedIn, YouTube and TikTok. These were the three apps that were taking the most of my screentime so this is where I started.

How it works

1. Once you’ve downloaded the app you can then choose the app or apps you would like to apply it to.

2. So for me, when I open LinkedIn, YouTube or TikTok I am automatically diverted to One Sec.

3. You will be forced to take a deep breath and decide if you really want to spend time in that app or whether it was simply an impulse set off by boredom or habit. It encourages you to be intentional with your time.

4. One Sec has a few intervention options.

5. The default option being a few seconds of encouraging you to breathe.

OneSec is designed to be annoying

On top of creating a more intentional use of some of your most addictive apps it is designed to have other long-term impacts.

So far then, what are the results?

According to the stats in the app, it’s already working. In the first week the app is telling me that I’ve saved 4 hrs of time. This also tallies well with my phone’s own Screen Time stats with screen time down about 20% week on week.

Conclusion

I’d definitely recommend giving this app a go. I’m already finding I tap on the apps less as I know those few seconds are coming to add that friction and, in that time, I’m able to divert my thoughts onto something more useful.

It takes some will power to add the app and get it set up when you know it’s going to annoy at times, but I think it’s totally worth it.

Think what you could do with all that time!!

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