Using technology to detoxify yourself
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Top 10 Apps to Detoxify Ourselves –  

Digital Wellbeing
Nov 17, 2022

    Imagine the human brain processing 11 million bits of information every second. So many details compete for our attention all the time. There has been much debate about how many items the conscious mind can store. MIT scientists re-evaluated the short-term memory capacity and offered insights that the brain can remember only up to four things at once. 

    If you are reading this, perhaps you often find yourself multitasking for entertainment purposes or, at work, dividing attention between different activities. Wait. What? You probably missed something you wanted to see, feel, or hear. As already mentioned in our Ultimate Digital Detox Guide, that often happens when your mind is overwhelmed with information. 

    Furthermore, researchers are examining how excessive smartphone use damages relationships and health. Thankfully, no evidence suggests you should abandon your phone entirely. What matters is that you use it wisely and less and consider digital detox to cultivate mindfulness and restore your interaction skills.

    Ironically and luckily, there are mobile apps that help with this in different ways. In this up-to-date guide, we from The Good Phone Foundation will give you information about some of the best digital detox apps, helping you cut the cord from your phone to become more healthy, focused, and productive. So check here the best apps for Digital Detox:

    AppDetox 

    AppDetox is a free mobile app that allows you to track how much time you spend using each one of your other apps. You can select from an array of rules which you can customize to control your app usage. AppDetox gives you a clear picture of your digital detox by making you aware of how many times you opened apps and overstepped your own rules.

    Cleverest: Focus Digital Detox

    Cleverest is a free app created by Martian & Machine which helps you utilize the Pomodoro technique. Work is broken into 25-minute intervals in this method, separated by short breaks using a kitchen timer. In honor of the tomato-shaped kitchen timer, each interval is famous as a Pomodoro (tomato in Italian). Francesco Cirillo develops the method in the late 1980s. Today, apps and websites providing timers and instructions have made the practice widely popular. Hence, Cleverest lets you set time away from your device and grow an avatar in this process.

    Flipd

    Flipd is a free app with in-app purchases that tracks your digital behavior and lets you connect with a community of like-minded people focused on success and productivity. You can join groups with other achievers and set challenges for each other. By adjusting your own time without social media apps, you will be motivated to maintain it. You will also be able to create playlists with different calming sounds, from rain to crackling fire, that will keep your focus intact. 

    Social Fever: App Time Tracker

    Besides tracking your app usage, Social Fever is a free app with a lovely design that helps you manage your quality time and health. It sends reminders to stay hydrated, reduce screen time because of eye strain, and break from continuous music listening. By reviewing your daily reports, you will be able to assess the positive impact of digital detox on your wellbeing.

    SPACE – Break phone addiction

    The SPACE – Break Phone Addiction is a free app with in-app purchases and perks that lets you know yourself better. You can understand your digital addiction type better by taking a short quiz. This way, you will know what and when to tackle when it comes to your digital detox. The app has a FOCUS option to create a non-distraction space for you by switching off all notifications that would interrupt your activities. 

    Microsoft Launcher

    Here comes the Microsoft Launcher, which is more of a free productivity app than just a digital detox app. It offers many features, such as to-do lists, sticky notes, and calendars. You can choose from different layouts how to personalize your feed among lists of highly customizable organizers. The well-being app also tracks your screen time and helps you understand your phone addiction better.

    Stay Free – Stay Focused

    Stay Free – Stay Focused is a free app that offers you an overview of your daily phone use with insightful reports. You can compare your statistics to the trending data of other users. This app blocks distractions by offering three self-control modes: overuse warning when you use your phone too much, focus mode to keep you away from your phone, and sleep mode, which disables your apps.

    Opal

    Opal is a free app that helps you quit your social media addiction by blocking distracting apps and providing you with a customizable planner. You can follow your stats and see how your focus improves daily, thanks to accurate and concise reports. If you have the extra dedication to tackling your digital detox, you can make a timer that is impossible to bypass.

    Digital Detox: Focus and Live

    Digital Detox: Focus and Live is a free app with a beautiful illustrative design. It helps you break your phone addiction and build strong habits by setting challenges for yourself and your friends with different hardness levels. Additionally, you pay real money when you want to quit them, which is an extra incentive to keep track of your progress. 

    Forest: Focus for Productivity

    Forest is an affordable app that offers gamification for productivity with imaginative and seamless design. It shows you a visual representation of your hard work and helps you stay focused by planting trees. With its motivating user experience, the app awards you every time you succeed in your mission, and the Forest team plants a tree in the real world.

    Conclusion

    Mobile apps can effectively track your progress in your digital detox journey while providing you with visual data. You get a good grasp of the physical and psychological effects and how to cope with your phone addiction

    The first step is to admit that excessive phone use impacts your daily and professional life. Symptoms include anxiety, lack of sleep, and poor relationships, which can affect alertness, concentration, memory, judgment, and motivation.

    Additionally, besides following productivity stats, some well-being apps allow you to connect with your friends and a supportive community of like-minded people with whom you have shared goals and values. This experience increases self-belief, self-confidence, and self-esteem and fosters a sense of belonging. 

    The mobile apps listed above pave the way to tackle your smartphone addiction successfully. It depends on you to start your digital detox today.