Android has added a new feature called Pause Point which is aimed at helping people fight doom-scrolling.
This works by requiring a 10-second pause after you open an app that you've labelled as distracting – giving you a chance at choice.
A new Android feature could be the best in years when it comes to helping you fight doom-scrolling. While this shows just how bad doom-scrolling has become – that Google itself is adding features to protect you – it also shows there is hope in the fight to hold onto our attention spans.
The new feature, called Pause Point, does as its name suggests. This will require a 10-second pause from you each time you open an app which you have already labelled as potentially distracting.
The idea here is that those 10-seconds will be enough time to give you pause to consider if you really want to go into that digital world. It adds a buffer between a habitual notification or icon press to open the app, and the reality of actually wanting to get into all that.
In short, Pause Point has been created to help give you back your choice in the moment to make healthier decisions.
This update comes from Google and could even apply to its own algorithm based apps of enticement, like YouTube. While this was a decision to help users, it also comes after Google has been under pressure from all the news and even new laws around restricting or banning minors from using social media.
The impact of these apps are starting to be taken seriously as damaging and so, at last, the company's behind them are having to offset that damage – at the least – with options like this.
Pause Point pauses the app launch, and the dopamine rush that follows, allowing you the space to actually think rather than being at the mercy of the chemical rush these apps can create.
That pause time isn't just dead space though. The Pause Point feature can also be set to suggest other more healthy app choices like a favourite fitness app, audiobook app or the like.
You can also choose to scroll through your favourite photos, perhaps to inspire activities to do other than doom-scrolling, an outdoor walk for example or meeting friends.
Pause Point requires a phone restart to turn it off – helping add a further layer of effort to keep you from taking the easiest path of least resistance to that dopamine hit.
