EMERGENCY STOP

Meet the apps helping you to spend less time using, er, apps

We’re at a technological crossroads. In one direction lies more of the same: endless pop-up notifications and more messaging platforms than we know what to do with. In the other? Services that limit the power our devices have over us. Instagram has a new feature that allows you to set a daily cap for using the app; then there’s Hold, which rewards students (we’re talking cinema tickets and Amazon vouchers) for abstaining from being on their phones. Lastly, there’s Moment, which monitors your screen time over the past 24 hours and offers a “boot camp” to wean you off. With studies showing the average office employee spends 56 minutes per working day on their phone,* it’s news worth sharing on the office group chat… Oh.