Researchers have found a very clever method to avoid spending hours on your smartphone. We challenge you to find better!
According to statistics, the French spend on average 3.5 hours per day on their phone. An alarming observation which undeniably deserves to be revised downwards. But how to do it ? Researchers at the University of Michigan in the United States have developed a foolproof solution aimed at reducing these frightening figures. A clever tip to reduce your screen time, and which could well, at the same time, put you off your mobile.
Scrolling on Instagram, chatting with your friends on WhatsApp or even looking for your summer swimsuit on Vinted… Each action carried out on your smartphone adds a little more time spent on screens. And when you have just finished your working day in front of the computer or you are planning to spend your evening watching a good film, do the math! This is why a team of scientists has set up an application, guaranteed today to be 16% more effective than other methods developed so far. This is called InteractOut.
What is the principle ? Once installed on your smartphone, the application will perform sneaky actions on your mobile, intended to alter its use. For example, if after 15 minutes, you are still handling your smartphone, the application will interfere with your tasks, such as by establishing a delay between the moment you click on Instagram and the moment when the Instagram window decides to open up. Same thing when you scroll through your photos or videos, the application will slow down the action. Worse still, it will even go so far as to trigger a completely different functionality than the one you requested, if it deems it necessary.
The objective? Become aware of your smartphone use. “If we continually add a little bit of friction to the interaction with the phone, the user ultimately becomes more aware of what they’re doing, because there’s a disconnect between what they expect and what they expect. is really happening”, explains the team of researchers. So, if you don’t want to smash your phone against the wall, you know what you have to do.