5 Apps to Control Screen Time
It is essential to allocate your time effectively in today’s world, as many factors want to capture our attention. And mobile phone one of the main distractors. Today I bring you five apps to control screen time. It’s based on the famous Pomodoro Technique, a method to improve time management, make better use of mobile devices, and overcome the addiction they cause.
With the Pomodoro Technique, we use a timer to divide time into so-called pomodoros, which are 25-minute intervals of activity, followed by 5 minutes of rest, with longer breaks every four pomodoros. It is a perfect method to help teenagers to concentrate and study.
You can also save your time in other ways: to delegate the extra task to someone, plan your day, and use Paper Help when you need to write some papers.
So, here is my favorite time-saver apps:
FOREST
This application is the ideal tool to prevent your cell phone, social networks, and phone calls from distracting you while you concentrate. Once logged in, you can set the period to stay focused on a single task, and a tree’s seed is planted.
Depending on the time, it will be the digital tree you plant: if it’s only 15 minutes, it will be a bush. If it is 25 minutes, it will be a pine tree. If it takes 120 minutes, it will be a forest. And if you use your cell phone before reaching the goal, you will only have a dry branch.
In addition, if you try to use any other application to distract you, it will start to vibrate and will send you several warning messages: Leave the phone, Go back to work, Don’t look at me, Come back if you don’t want your tree to die!
Without a doubt, this is my favorite screen time management app and the one I recommend the most for teenagers. I use it myself to manage myself.
GOODTIME
This app is simpler but effective. You only need to tap the timer to start the counter, avoid distractions and increase your productivity. You can set the duration of study sessions for up to 120 minutes and extend break periods up to an hour. Although with teenagers, I recommend scheduling the periods marked by the Pomodoro method (25 minutes productive, 5 minutes rest).
TEAM POMODORO
This application is designed for group concentration sessions. The application allows you to create and manage work teams to improve the performance of the members. You can customize the work sessions to 20, 25, or 30 minutes. And rest breaks can be from 10 to 20 minutes. It also includes notes and chat tools. It can be a handy app for high school students when studying in groups.
FOCUS TO-DO
This app offers the Pomodoro technique timer and a task management list that will allow you to identify priorities and progress. The first step is to create a new task and start working on it. You set the times, activity due date, priorities, reminders, and notes. In addition, it informs you of daily, weekly, monthly and yearly progress. Although, in this case, the app is more beneficial for adults than for teenagers, it is an excellent app to control screen time.
POMODORO TIMER
This app sounds just like a kitchen timer as time advances. And if you finish the task, the sound of the buzzer will not belong in coming. You customize the concentration and rest times according to the activities you want to perform, whether study sessions or work pending. But this app allows you to use other applications simultaneously, so I do not recommend it for teenagers. I do not see it as effective.
I hope these apps to control screen time help them concentrate and study, leaving the mobile and networks on pause for a while and being able to connect socially without the screens in between.