For the past few years, Google has been actively focusing on reducing the time we spend on our smartphones. This project was termed as Digital Wellbeing. With the increasing importance of digital gadgets, screen time has seen an increase. Digital Wellbeing was created as a method to combat this phenomenon
However, it is limited to Android at the moment. If you want to extend the same functionalities of Google’s Digital Wellbeing project over to Windows 10, here I shall discuss how you can implement digital wellbeing for PC.
What Is Digital Wellbeing?
Digital wellbeing is a project undertaken by device manufacturers and health professionals, to combat smartphone addiction. This includes applications and features that promote less screen on time, less disruptive notifications, apps that can track the time spent on an app on your device.
This project was initially designed to combat smartphone addiction but quickly evolved into means of using the devices in a healthier way. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle has never been more imperative, and digital wellbeing is an effort to prevent smartphones and PCs to disrupt lifestyle.
What Comes Under Digital Wellbeing?
According to Google and multiple health professionals, Digital wellbeing involves many different practices implemented by both device manufacturers and users. Some of them as mentioned as follows:
- Awareness about smartphone and internet addiction
- Restricting the time spent in front of a mobile or laptop screen.
- Reducing impact on eyes and brain from prolonged screen usage.
- Understanding the long-term implications like eye damage and mental disorders.
- Pushing people to engage in more physical activities and maintaining fitness levels.
- Tracking and supporting proper sleep patterns.
- Using technology to aid a healthy lifestyle overall.
Digital Wellbeing For PC; How To Implement Digital Wellbeing In Windows 10?
If you recently started spending a long time in front of the screen, you will benefit hugely from this project. Although the term Digital wellbeing is being actively used by Google, many other companies are trying their hands on improving the health of their users.
Although there isn’t one dedicated application to cut down on your Windows usage, there are some apps that can emulate the function quite well. Let us take a deeper look into how you can implement Digital wellbeing in Windows 10.
Monitor Windows 10 Usage Statistics
Task Manager
In an attempt to implement digital wellbeing in windows 10, Microsoft included the CPU usage time in the task manager, which informs you about the time you spent on an application in the last one month.
Follow these steps to find the CPU monitoring in task manager:
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys together to launch the Task Manager.
- If the task manager opens in condensed form, click on More details to view all the processes and options.
- Switch to the App history tab.
This tab will show the applications that have used the most CPU resources.
There are some obvious limitations to this though, as there is no detailed information about what application you use the most. However, this should be a good indication as to what apps you use the most, and what you should cut down on.
Time Sense
If you want a piece of more detailed information about your usage history, you can check out Time Sense. Although the app is in the early stages of development, it is probably the only good application for monitoring your Windows 10 usage statistics.
While our brief usage, Time Sense was actually very accurate in measuring the screen on time, and the applications that we used. The app itself is very easy to get accustomed to, which makes it the perfect application for beginners and experts alike.
Check out Time Sense.
Restricting The App And Website Usage
Most of us spend a lot of time on the internet, making the browser one of the most used applications on the computer. However, with the internet being such a vast space, when you sit down to work on your computer you can get easily distracted by non-essential things.
To overcome this, you can slightly modify the browser to block certain websites temporarily. This can be done using browser extensions, which allow you to modify certain components of the app, elevating the user experience in the process.
StayFocusd
StayFocusd is one of the most popular Chrome productivity extensions, with over 600,000 active users. Not only can you block entire websites, but you can also configure the website to block certain components of the distracting websites.
This app works quite similar to Digital wellbeing on Android and iOS. You can set a countdown timer for how long you wish to use the website per day. Once that time limit passes, Stay Focusd will block the website, restricting access to the user.
If you end up being too weak and set a really long time as the countdown timer, you can make use of the Nuclear Option. This is an uncancellable block which will completely block the distracting websites from your browser, regardless of the active hours that you have set.
One of the most appreciable features of the extension is the high level of customization that it offers. You can configure the extension to however you like, meaning you can work on the goals you set.
Check out StayFocusd.
LeechBlock
LeechBlock is another simple yet amazing productivity-focused extension that helps you block distracting websites from your browser. It is a great alternative to StayFocusd on Mozilla Firefox, as StayFocusd is not available on Firefox as of writing.
LeechBlock NG boasts of providing exceptional features in a simple yet elegant user interface. You can set timers for how long you wish to use an application. There is also a feature of completely blocking disturbing websites for a certain period of time. All things considered, LeechBlock is a wonderful digital wellbeing extension for Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
Check out LeechBlock Chrome Extensions and Mozilla Add-ons.
Reducing Strain On Eyes And Brain
With the increasing screen time, your eyes are at risk of damage as well. The blue light emitted by the computer screens is harmful to your eyes and can lead to deteriorating mental health as well. With Microsoft improving the Windows operating system for a healthier approach, there is a built-in protection system against blue light in Windows 10.
Check out how to customize Windows 10 night light for the detailed steps.
Wrapping Up
Microsoft is also trying its best to make Windows safer and healthier for the customers. One such example is the Focus Assist mode, where notifications are not displayed for full-screen applications. While there is no dedicated Windows 10 digital wellbeing application, you can get the same functionalities using the different components shown above. Comment below if you found this useful, and to discuss further the same.
