I am building an app called “one sec”.
It forces its users to take a deep breath whenever they open social media.
This helps to reflect and gives users the power to decide if they really want to open an app and do so intentionally.
Recently on Twitter, a blind user contacted me about “one sec”. Unfortunately they didn’t reply to my follow-up question so far. But it brought to my attention that social-media overuse is a problem for everyone, so I would like to make my app accessible for everyone.
To start off, I would love to learn more about experiences of voice over users with overuse of social media (or online news, dating apps, etc). How does this impact your quality of life? Constantly checking your phone and compensating negative emotions in a very dysfunctional way? Are there any apps you feel you should use less because they harm you long-term?
And of course, I am also very interested in your experience with my app especially. I haven't put any effort into ensuring a great voice over experience so far. But this is on my todo list now. This is why I am seeking for input on the topic in general, and my app especially.
I am very happy to hand out promo codes to anyone who would like to try my app. Please send me a direct message here.
This is the link to the App Store page:
https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1532875441
I am very curious what you all have to report on these topics.
Thanks a lot and have a nice day!
– Frederik
Comments
The only social media I have is Reddit.
I don't feel like I need an app to calm down because I can choose what subs I visit.
I would definitely like to give something like that ago.
The way these apps hi-jack our sub conscious habits is something I’ve tried to take control of before but screen time just wasn’t up to it. Does your app suggest other things you might like to open instead like.waking up or other meditation apps or is its purpose just to give you a few seconds to think? Either way I’d like to give it a go please. YouTube and twitter aren’t a good use of attention but my sub conscious enjoys looking for danger. Sometimes I have control of it but other times its the other way around. It tends to be when things are going well I have more control and don’t need to doom scroll but when I feel less control is when the habits kick in. It’s a bit of a paradox, the last thing I need at times like that is manufactured outrage and other negative emotions but the apps know exactly how to keep attention at any cost. They spend money on hacking my psychology so its only fair I have some weapons to retaliate with. Thanks also for finding and engaging with applevis.
Interesting Topic
First off, thank you for reaching out on here.
In a sense I have to agree with Brad on this one, who said just don't open those apps. However, if you're like certain friends of mine this simply doesn't work for whatever reason. I for one have in recent years been very curious as to the reason(s) for this. I think it just boils down to brain chemistry/the environment in which one is raised, which appears to be a whole topic inandof itself. Having said that, I for one have found most news-related websites to be relatively inaccessible with VoiceOver. At this time I'm primarily a speech user, but I recently got my NLS eReader and am curious about these things with Braille. My guess is that it isn't much different with news sites. Social media seems to be the same way, or at least the majority of it. I think Mastodon is a different story, but I've not done much on there yet due to time constraints. As far as mobile apps are concerned, I've not tried out many of the social-media ones. I had Dystopia and found it to be quite good, but promptly removed it upon reading the thread on here which talks about the upcoming changes to Reddit. I had Adium for Facebook, but didn't find it very good. Additionally, I deleted my Facebook account last year mainly due to the inaccessibility. I would like to check out your app though at some point, perhaps when I upgrade to a new phone.
Dopamine is a hell of a drug.
Depending on what gives our brains dopamine which we have very little control over as its set in childhood, we are more or less susceptible to each and every industry spending vast amounts of money to ensure their product is as irresistible as possible. One person might be captured by sugar salt and fat, another might be cigarettes, another gambling, main stream media social media, alcohol, prescription drugs, non prescription drugs TV soaps, movies, books. and on and on. Some are more harmful than others, some are more nourishing than others. Some people have a super power that allows them to not be captured by any manipulation but they are rare people. Sometimes ignorance is a good way to avoid needing distractions from problems in the world around us but that while a successful strategy for the individual has societal side effects. Either way round, I think tools that allow us more control over what we do with our time, money health, education, attention etc. are most definitely a good thing. I was excited about screen time but found it to not be flexible enough. It was all or nothing. I’m excited to see what this app can do by just putting a slight delay in between my impulse and my action. We think we have free will but the more this is investigated the more it turns out to be incorrect and a counterproductive belief because it stops us dealing with the reality of our psychology. If every decision we made was free from external influence I think we’d be a much better animal than we currently are but that doesn’t appear to be how we are wired. Hopefully as more research is done we will have more power to be the autonomous beings we believe ourselves to be.
In Reply to Comments and Scientific Research
First of all, thanks a lot for your input on this topic!
As some of you have mentioned, this might not be a problem for everyone. If you think everything is under control, perfect! You probably don’t need any app that forces you to pause and think.
I had this problem in the first lockdown in 2020 where I couldn't to resist to open Instagram whatsoever. I opened it all the time, every 20 minutes and wasted a lot of time.
So I created one sec, to make opening the app just a bit harder. And to give me time to think and to make an active decision. Basically to automatically interrupt my bad habits.
Since then, I have conducted a study together with the Max Planck Institute here in Germany, and we found a reduction of social media usage by 57% after one sec was installed:
The study has been peer reviewed and published, available under this link:
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2213114120
Social media companies definitely go for our short-term dopamine in order to maximize our eye-ball-time spent on their apps. Because this way they maximize their ad revenue.
More time spent on their app means more opportunities to display ads in our feeds.
A large junk of scroll-sessions are sparked by negative emotions: stress, boredom, loneliness. And opening social media apps immediately overrides these negative emotions, making us feel better short term. The short-term dopamine kicks in triggered by notifications, likes, content, and so on. However, long term this can cause harm because it does not solve the underlying problem. This way we can avoid negative emotions, continuous behavior can increase the likelihood for depression and anxiety.
I am looking forward to gain additional insights, how this problem affects people who use voice over in general, and what my app could do to help.
Oh I'm no angel.
I have a food adiction, I'm working on it slowly, and I do check reddit nearly every day simply because I have nothing else to do.
I think, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, blind people who don't go out much would use the internet a lot more so while your app might be useful to sighted people and people wanting to take a break, it might not be that useful for a lot of people here because of the shut in factor.
If others don't expirience this, great! My grandparents are getting old so we don't do much day to day so reddit/youtube and all that have saved me from being bored.
First of all, thank you for…
First of all, thank you for making One Sec and for thinking of us! I've been using it off and on for awhile and it really is a huge help. It can get a little buggy when used to block Safari but I've found it incredibly helpful with every other app I need it for. On the whole I find it's mostly accessible with Voiceover though there are very few options for screen reader users when it comes to what we can do with screen blocking; only the deep breath option works with Voiceover, all the rest rely on sight to use. And I would like to be able to access journal prompts; right now that's an element VO can't get to (but I can see it's there with my limited vision). I really struggle with phone addiction and being able to make it so I can't even open some apps without having to write a journal entry first thing in the morning has made a big difference (though I would like having the option to only enable the journal and not the "take a deep breath" pause screen on everything). If needed I can test out things more thoroughly if you need someone to do that. For now I'm just a blind person who actually uses it daily and this is what I've observed so far. Thanks again for wanting to make accessibility part of your app as much as possible, we'oe not the only ones who use screen readers and it's nice to be able to use something like everyone else for a change.
Is testing still welcome?
By the way, I have a few points and questions:
iOS sure has the built-in Screen Time feature, but it doesn't actually lock any apps or prevent you from launching them. You can just enter the passcode and disable your own restrictions. YouTube lets you set reminders to take a break or go to bed, but these are also things you can just dismiss in a few seconds. I don't know what exactly your app does, but would love to be able to have an app that could truly block apps that I selected. By the way, I have a question regarding the research examining the effects of One Sec. Were those using the other features I mentioned above, or those similar to them, but not using One Sec, also included for comparison purposes?
Thanks.
I only use facebook and mastodon. no need for me for your app but is nice to know for those who over do it, the app is there.
Personally I think I see no use for this app
Mby before covid19, but now? Sorry, but I think er to late. Sorry 😞
App blocking schedule not accessible
Still loving One Sec and after discovering the ability to completely block certain apps for a set amount of time I've been really able to take control back during the day. It's been great. However the blocking scheduler (where you tick off little squares of time to have an app blocked) is not accessible with Voiceover so far. Not even screen recognition will do anything but read the entire chunk of time with no differentiation between blocks that are turned on and ones that are off. Once in awhile I do meed to temporarily change something about this blocking schedule and can't without turning Voiceover off and mashing the phone into my face. Would love if this tool was as accessible as the rest of the app.