In 2023, the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) released a social media and youth mental health advisory, noting that a staggering 95% of teenagers, between 13 and 17 years of age, report using social media ‘almost constantly.’
“People with frequent and problematic social media use can experience changes in brain structure similar to changes seen in individuals with substance use or gambling addiction,” said the detailed report, citing research.
A radical app might offer some reprieve, by literally coaxing users into touching some grass and taking a snapshot as evidence, before the problematic apps are unlocked. The app, called Touch Grass: Reduce Screentime, is the brainchild of Rhys Kentish, a software engineer at UK-based Brightec.
Set for a release on March 14, the app is now up for pre-downloads on the App Store. The app’s premise is straightforward. You find out the digital dopamine apps that send you into a doom-scrolling loop, and hotlist them in the app.
The next time you want to access those apps, you go out, touch grass, and capture the deed with your phone’s camera. The on-board computer vision system (the same tech that also powers everything from Google Lens to self-driving cars) will then verify if you actually went out and touched grass, before the apps are unlocked.
The Touch Grass app is not absolutely rigid in its take. Users will get a few skips per month, and they can customize the unlock duration to best suit their digital habits. The developer warns that the app will accept “real grass only.”
I am eager to test this aspect, and will keep an eye on social media for all the fun hacks.
The app’s listing says it aims to tackle phone addiction, help users cultivate better digital habits, and find a healthy balance between mindful usage of tech and real-life experiences.
Another neat part is that the app will let users purchase skip, and half the proceeds from these in-app purchases will go towards rewilding projects in the UK. Essentially, you’re saving yourself from yet another digital spiral, and even if you cave in, nature gets the benefit of your slacking ways.
In the meanwhile, you can head over to the Screen Time dashboard on your iPhone to keep a tab on your smartphone activity, limit usage time, enable the Downtime feature, and activate parental controls, too. A similar set of tools are available within the Digital Wellbeing dashboard for Android smartphone users, as well.
The overarching idea is to keep your screen exposure in check. According to research published in the PNAS NEXUS journal earlier this year, cutting down on daily screen time worked even better than anti-depressants. It also helped users improve their self-control, social connections, spend more time in the real work, and log better sleep.
