Apple recently announced the new IOS and a new range of iPhones. Although the new iPhones are ridiculously pricey, the new IOS features are pretty interesting and for some reason got me very excited to update my IOS which is very unlike me – I tend to take my time with these apple things before I update my phone and “suddenly” it starts acting up. Just a heads up to “non-apple” users, no pressure here but you have every reason to be envious of us right about now :).

The most interesting feature for me is the screen time management feature. Of course, a lot more interesting because this is a very important part of what my mum speaks about regarding parenting in a digital age.

This feature allows you to see how long you spend on different apps through the course of the day and also a 7-day time span.

It also shows you the number of times you pick up your phone in the day. I am currently judging myself on this one because I am writing this article at exactly 9:43 am and I have picked up my phone 30 times already! “To look at what?” you wonder! I’m honestly wondering the same thing too. In those 30 times, none has been to look at credit alert or make money (deep sigh).

You can set “downtime” periods. These are simply times where you cannot use any other app on your phone besides messaging, phone call and maps. Of course, you can add other apps to be excluded from the “down time” but I guess it defeats the whole purpose of trying to build discipline and be intentional about monitoring your screen time.

For younger kids, it allows you to put content and privacy restrictions. That way you can restrict their visits to any harmful sites and what content they are exposed to.

Lastly, to my mum’s favorite feature, you can set up screen time for your family. This allows you to view your child’s screen time report and also set some parental controls from your phone and also share location for safety reasons.

I am not sure why, but by the time I woke up this morning I saw my mum had shared her location with me. Maybe in the hope that I will share mine too. I hate to disappoint you mama, but that shall not be happening! I’m sure this feature was not intended for children in their “20’s”. Word of mouth location update works just fine for us (lol).

Please feel free to check out and use these features especially as kids these days from the age of 0 have smartphones. Of course, this does not mean you should become a “stalker parent”. No disrespect intended but please remember that these features are just as helpful for YOU to monitor your screen time. You will be surprised how much you spend sending, downloading and forwarding broadcast messages :’).

Till next time when the spirit leads for me to write, Adios!

This article was lovingly written by Diekololaoluwa… Charity Babatunde’s firstborn.