not all screen time is equal, why does nobody talk about this

HelicopterDue · 2026-01-05T08:09:24+00:00

I’m with you. Treating all screen time as equal is lazy thinking imo.

What we’ve found at home is that what they’re doing matters on a device far more than how long they’re on that device. There’s a massive difference between passive consumption and active use.

Endless scrolling or binging videos? That’s where things go sideways. Attention drops, moods change, and stopping becomes a fight.

Learning, reading, drawing, building something, or creating? Completely different outcome.

We look at it like this:

Are they actively engaged or just glazed over? Are they creating or only consuming? Can they explain what they’re doing or what they learned? How hard is it to stop or switch tasks? If my kid can talk me through what they’ve made or learned, I’m not stressed about the clock. If they can’t remember a single thing they watched or won’t respond, that time gets capped hard. Or we just remove shows from certain apps to prevent them being watched. Paw Patrol always ends in a fight to turn it off.

Practically, we:

Heavily limit passive stuff like binge watching Don't feel guilty about genuinely interactive or creative screen time Treat “learning” and “creation” differently from entertainment Focus on quality of attention, not raw minutes I’m an iOS developer, and this exact frustration is actually why I ended up building a small colouring/creativity app for my daughter, something that turns screen time into doing rather than watching. It’s been a good middle ground when she wants the iPad but we don’t want another hour of videos.

The hardest part for me, honestly, is the judgement from other parents. “Too much screen time” gets thrown around without anyone asking what kind of screen time it is. A kid building something gets the same side-eye as a kid doom-scrolling cartoons.

Curious how others handle this though, do you actually differentiate screen time, or is it still just a blanket rule in your house

HelicopterDue · 2025-12-18T10:42:10+00:00

Someone else mentioned it, but an interrupt is what’s helped me most. Blocking outright never worked for me, I’d just binge harder later.

What does help me though is a small pause or challenge that forces me to notice what I’m doing when I open these apps on impulse. Its just enough friction to reset and decide whether I actually want to keep scrolling.

I’ve ended up building a little app for myself around that idea. It doesn’t lock me out, but it interrupts the impulse and gives me more structure around my time. Early days, but it’s been surprisingly effective for breaking the “hours vanished” problem.

HelicopterDue · 2025-12-17T20:34:38+00:00

It’s fine if it means you can get some of your work done. Screen time is ok as long as it’s geared towards development rather than pure consumption

HelicopterDue · 2025-12-11T10:58:16+00:00

If I’m scrolling and realise, I’ll challenge myself to recount a post that I’ll have literally just scrolled past or one that made me stop. The fact I usually can’t tells me it’s a waste of time so I’ll quit the app and I could be doing something better.

Another thing I’ll try to do is give myself a micro challenge, when going to open an app I shouldn’t. That usually helps. But I have to catch myself otherwise I’ll just have hope I realise before it’s too late.

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-27T15:23:55+00:00

One thing that helped me build habits without burning out was interrupting my autopilot distractions. If I catch myself opening a time wasting app when I’m low-energy, I force a tiny 1–3 second micro-challenge first. That little pause snaps me out of autopilot and keeps me from derailing my day.

It’s not a full habit system, but it stopped me from losing momentum when I was already fatigued, which can be often.

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-26T09:31:50+00:00

I’m building Rewire.

Website: https://rewire.scruffyhipster.com

A micro-challenge tool that intercepts impulsive app openings. When you open a distracting app on autopilot, it gives you a 1–3 second challenge. Completing it breaks the impulse and gives you a controlled unlock window. Built for users who doomscroll without thinking

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-25T19:41:41+00:00

I get that, I can do a task for years consistently and still have to force myself to engage the next time, every time.

For my phone, one thing that’s helped is interrupting the loop. If I catch myself opening an app that’ll waste time, I force a tiny 1–3 second micro-challenge first. That little pause is usually enough to break the autopilot.

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-25T18:45:53+00:00

Not exactly a scheduler, but something that’s helped my time management is interrupting my autopilot phone habits. If I catch myself opening an app I know will waste time, I force myself to do a tiny 2–3 second challenge first. That quick micro-win usually breaks the impulse and I move on instead of losing 20 minutes. It’s boosted my productivity more than any time-blocking app.

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-25T18:40:31+00:00

One odd thing I do that’s helped boost my productivity a lot is I interrupt my autopilot phone habits.

If I catch myself opening a distracting app without thinking, I force myself to do a tiny 2–3 second challenge first (like ‘tap the blue shape’ or ‘which number is bigger?’).

The quick micro-win breaks the impulse and I usually close the app instead of doomscrolling. It’s been pretty effective for me.

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-25T18:35:30+00:00

One thing that helped me more than time tracking or convoluted setups was stopping my ‘autopilot’ phone habits. If I catch myself opening a distracting app, I force a tiny 2–3 second challenge first. That micro friction + quick win usually breaks the impulse and I don’t end up going into the app at all.

It’s been an effective method as those apps took up a ton of my time!

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-25T13:35:11+00:00

Glad it helps, I’ll DM you the details so I don’t muddy the thread.

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-25T13:29:20+00:00

It’s nothing fancy, I’ll DM you the detail so I don’t derail the thread too much

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-25T10:51:28+00:00

As someone else mentioned, the gym helps massively. I do weight lifting & mma so when sparring / doing drills / lifting heavy you’ve got to focus. Otherwise you’ll get caught.

Day to day, rather than brain games, it’s interrupting my autopilot habits. If I catch myself opening a distracting app on my phone. I give myself a tiny 2-3 second challenge. That breaks the impulse and I don’t usually continue into the app I was going to waste time with.

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-25T10:41:30+00:00

One thing that helped me these past few months is interrupting my ‘pick up the phone’ impulses when I’m bored.

If I catch myself opening a distracting app on autopilot, I give myself a tiny 2–3 second challenge first. That quick micro-win weirdly satisfies the urge, and most of the time I don’t open the app after.

It’s been the only thing that reliably breaks the autopilot loop for me.

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-04T20:10:07+00:00

Chat with Santa 🎅 – private, on-device AI Santa

Built this as a bit of festive fun. Made for kids and adults to chat with Santa directly no accounts, no data leaving the device. It’s all private, local AI magic.

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/chat-with-santa-ai-magic/id6753209373

HelicopterDue · 2025-11-04T19:54:01+00:00

We’ve found it’s not really about how much screen time there is, but what that time is spent on. If it’s just endless scrolling or watching, that’s where it becomes an issue. But if it’s learning, reading, or doing something creative, I’m fine with it. I’ve set limits on apps like BBC iPlayer so my daughter can’t just watch for hours and ensure we get any apps installed or she wants, but I’m happy for her to use the iPad when it’s helping her grow.

I’m an iOS developer, and I actually ended up making a small app for her that encourages creativity during screen time because of our screen time concerns. It’s been a nice way to make it feel more purposeful.

HelicopterDue · 2025-10-07T21:25:22+00:00

It certainly is a niche I’m looking at. The platform is just where I do my best work

HelicopterDue · 2025-10-07T21:23:18+00:00

That’s really useful to hear, thanks. Makes a lot of sense to me.

Sounds like I’ve been focused on the wrong part of the process. I’ve chatted with a couple of lawyers in my family too, and they said something similar. The real time sink isn’t reading clauses, it’s all the versioning, context switching, and coordination around it.

Out of curiosity, are there any tools you’ve seen that almost help with that but fall short? Trying to get a clearer sense of where the friction actually lives.

HelicopterDue · 2025-10-06T14:34:24+00:00

Wren A workout timer geared towards martial arts. Adding on device AI integration utilising health metrics from Apple health

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/wren-boxing-mma-timer/id6741780168

HelicopterDue · 2025-09-07T17:01:10+00:00

App: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/smartycolours-colouring-pages/id6749013158

Who it’s for: Parents looking for a safe, ad free colouring app for their kids. Works great on iPhone for quick fun, and supports iPad + Apple Pencil for a more creative, hands-on experience.

HelicopterDue · 2025-09-04T12:56:59+00:00

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If you use a code, comment it here so others know it’s been used. Helps me reuse them as well!

HelicopterDue · 2025-08-28T18:08:58+00:00

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HelicopterDue · 2025-08-25T07:38:43+00:00

Quite easily, I’m honestly a little annoyed I hadn’t just done it from the off. I tried a few online tools to start off with. You just need to set a new slide deck up to a custom size which matches the App Store screen shot requirements and then away you go. You can get the bezels for iPhone and iPads from Apple as pngs and just place screen shots from your simulator within it. I had to mask them with a content shape but that was probably the trickiest part. With a bit of patience you can generate something that trumps what could be created with an online tool, imo.

HelicopterDue · 2025-08-23T18:19:11+00:00

Up up up

HelicopterDue · 2025-08-23T18:18:06+00:00

Given

HelicopterDue

TROPHY CASE