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Apple's screen addiction tools are to save the iPhone -- not you

They still need you a little hooked.

Bridget Carey Principal Video Producer
Bridget Carey is an award-winning reporter who helps you level-up your life -- while having a good time geeking out. Her exclusive CNET videos get you behind the scenes as she covers new trends, experiences and quirky gadgets. Her weekly video show, "One More Thing," explores what's new in the world of Apple and what's to come. She started as a reporter at The Miami Herald with syndicated newspaper columns for product reviews and social media advice. Now she's a mom who also stays on top of toy industry trends and robots. (Kids love robots.)
Expertise Consumer technology, Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, social media, mobile, robots, future tech, immersive technology, toys, culture Credentials
  • Bridget has spent over 18 years as a consumer tech reporter, hosting daily tech news shows and writing syndicated newspaper columns. She's often a guest on national radio and television stations, including ABC, CBS, CNBC and NBC.
Bridget Carey
2 min read
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The constant dings. The aimless scrolling. The privacy worries. The neck aches

I don't feel healthy using an iPhone . It leaves me concerned about my mental health and questioning just how addicted my brain is to all these noisy, shallow apps. And yet this is a tool I need to do my job and survive in this world.

So it's quite welcome news to know iOS 12 will have tools to help me get more control over these screen addiction problems. Android is also getting new tools to help curb dependence and cut the noise.

But wait… we now need an app to save us from our app problem?

Apps like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have been designed purposefully to manipulate our brains to keep us clicking, scrolling and watching. But Apple of course built the device where the problem flourishes. It's reached a point where we're calling for change and worried about our children, and we're left feeling sour with Silicon Valley.

So when Apple swoops in with new screen limit tools, it's not merely done to save us. Apple needs to do this to save the iPhone, to save itself -- to keep people from hating the device.

And for Apple to salvage this relationship with our iPhone, it needs us to back off a bit -- but yet still keep folks enamored enough to want to buy a new phone every year. 

Allow me to break it down in the video embedded below:

Watch this: Apple needs you to turn off your iPhone (but not too much)

iOS 12: Siri shortcuts, group FaceTime and "Memoji" -- Animoji of you.

WWDC 2018: Everything Apple just announced.