You won’t find “Smartphone Addiction” in the DSM-5, the latest edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The DSM changes slowly, but that doesn’t mean that excessive new media screen time isn’t associated with mental health issues. Researchers in San Diego State University and Florida State University published a study in Clinical Psychological Science in late 2017 that linked digital screen time with increased depression, suicide, and suicidal behavior in U.S. adolescents in grades 8 through 12. Following the SCSU/FSU study, the CDC determined that between the years 2010 and 2015 the rate of depression among girls rose by 58% and suicide rates increased by 65%.
Siempo‘s eponymous smartphone app, currently available only for Android devices, employs several methods to remove distractions from your screen. Configuration menus let you batch notifications for delivery at specified intervals or at a specific time of day. You can configure high priority apps individually to allow notifications in real-time from specific applications. Siempo takes over smartphone screen management to place your most frequently used programs on the first app page. Apps display in grayscale with unbranded icons. You can flag favorite apps to the second page and less used apps to the third page.
Siempo does not restrict or remove smartphone functions. By managing notifications, organizing screens, and toning down visual distractions, however, your smartphone is less likely to capture your attention when you’re otherwise engaged.
