I been looking at various apps, how some are less addictive then others. and also how it varies from users to users which apps are more or less addictive to them.

A more, generic example of this is,

I use play the game Splatoon 2 and 3 on Nintendo switch, and my Switch’s battery would always be seemingly draining and dying.

I’m over here thinking, why does the Nintendo Switch battery sucks so bad, then I realize… that the battery isn’t as bad as it seemed, the game Splatoon was just addictive.

Splatoon as a game doesn’t really end you just keep playing and playing rank or turf matches. When the battery gets low, you might still want to keep playing but can’t and would have to charge the switch console. (sure there’s a story mode but the game doesn’t just stop after you completed the story.

Now take this similar concept of never ending, and addictive apps to your smartphone and even your laptop or PC.

Social media generally is also never ending and as addictive. I got an *offline pong game and played a few rounds offline on my smartphone and eventually I did get bored, there was no leveling up or nothing just a generic game. Technically the game didn’t end but since my brain wasn’t getting much dopamine from it I just turn off my phone and my battery notably lasted a lot longer then when I was playing more addictive and time consuming games/apps.

Thoughts?

  • jaaaardvark@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    There are apps that block opening apps longer than some amount of time.

    Can you recommend one for Android?

    • sugar_in_your_tea
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      6 months ago

      The built-in Digital Wellbeing & Parental controls works. I have it on my Android 11 device, haven’t tested on anything newer (it’s not on my Graphene OS device based on the most recent Android though).

      Settings > Digital Wellbeing & Parental controls > Dashboard > click the timer icon next to an app and set a limit

      If you want something outside of the Google ecosystem (e.g. you’re running GrapheneOS), the following should work (untested):

      There are probably others, that was just a cursory check.