While social media can be an excellent source of expression and communication for creators it can also reduce your productivity if left unchecked. Thankfully, Facebook is leading the pack as the world’s no.1 app to get you off your phone and doing more constructive things instead.
As the world adjusts to a new way of life defined by more time at home the increase in frivolous screen time is inevitable. According to historical data from Nielsen, during other crises, people have turned to TV in large numbers. But, this pandemic is unlike other natural disasters the world has faced. Because one-fifth of the world’s population is confined to their homes, people are turning to social media to stay connected.
YouTube, Facebook, and Netflix have all reported sharp usage spikes since the start of the lockdown. But, Facebook is doing something to curb this. To enable you to get more work done, and spend more quality time with your family Facebook is launching Quiet Mode.
According to Facebook, this feature forms part of its efforts to give people more control over how they manage their time – while hopefully reducing the negative mental health impact excessive social media usage has.
Using this feature you’re able to:
— Schedule Quiet Mode to activate at certain times of day
— See how much time you have left before Quiet Mode ends
— Use Facebook for only 15 minutes while on Quiet Mode
What Does Quiet Mode Do and How Can You Activate These Features?
Quiet Mode only has one function – limiting distractions. It does that by muting push notifications from Facebook during the activated hours.
Unfortunately, the function is only available on iOS, although Facebook plans to launch the feature for Android in May with the widespread launch occurring in June.
In the meantime, Android users have other options to stop not only notifications from Facebook but other apps as well.
You can either set your phone to DND (Do Not Disturb), which still shows notifications but mutes them, similar to what Facebook is doing, or you can change your notification settings which you’ll find in the setting app on your phone.
This will give you greater control over how you spend your time during the lockdown. Also, if you find yourself overindulging in screen time and not getting enough work done, LinkedIn has an excellent course on Time Management to help you increase your productivity and get acclimated to your home office.
Hopefully now that Facebook is launching in-app features like this other apps like Instagram and YouTube will follow suit. While we wait for these features what are you doing to limit screen time and increase productivity during this lockdown? Share your comments below so you can help other creators!
