Google Chrome on Android Q
A year ago Google, along with Android 9 Pie, launched the Digital Wellbeing app. Its purpose was to help us in the fight against smartphone addiction by restricting access to certain applications after a specified time. Users reacted differently to the possibilities of Digital Wellbeing: someone seemed to have excessive privileges, while someone, on the contrary, considered that more aggressive methods were needed to effectively combat gadget mania. Google listened to the second and allowed to block sites in Chrome.
Automatic blocking of selected sites will appear in Google Chrome this fall. Thanks to it, users will be able to set a time limit on the use of specific resources, after which access to them will be closed until the next day. True, only owners of devices running Android Q will be able to take advantage of the innovation due to the limitations of the Digital Wellbeing application, which is inextricably linked with the operating system.
How to spend less time on the Internet
In addition to the blocking function, users will have the opportunity to monitor how much time they spend on certain websites. Even if they do not want to limit themselves in access to them, the informational summary will allow them to understand whether it is worth changing anything in their behaviour. As a result, developers expect that users will still spend less on the Internet, gradually reducing the time to use smartphones to a minimum.
In fact, on Android, the parental control function can have a greater effect on the smartphone usage model than on iOS. This is due to a confusing system of increasing limits. If the user has exhausted the time that was allotted to work with this or that application, he will not be able to extend it directly from the desktop. To do this, he will need to go to the settings, pass verification, and only then will he be able to get another 15 minutes to work with the desired program.
Android Parental Controls
On the other hand, Google is trying to solve a problem that obviously has no solution. Complicating the mechanism for extending usage limits, the search giant increases the likelihood that a person will simply turn off parental control and continue to spend as much time with a smartphone as he needs. In Cupertino, they act more gently, preferring not to put pressure on the user, but giving him the opportunity to make a decision here and now, to extend the limit or set the device aside.