Apple created the attention sinkhole. Here are some ways to fix it.


Your attention span is the battleground, and the tech platforms have you bested. Social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram get bulk of the blame for employing sketchy tactics to drive engagement. And they deserve most of the criticism; as Tristan Harris points out, as users, they are at a serious disadvantage when competing against companies trying to lure them with virtually endless resources.

However, one company that is responsible for this crisis goes relatively unscathed. Apple jumpstarted the smartphone revolution with the iPhone. Our phones are not anymore an extension of our brains but for many, a replacement. However, things went south. Your phone is less a digital hub, but more a sinkhole for your mind.

I believe that for having built a device that has demanded so much of our attention, Apple has left its users in the dark when it comes to using it for their own good. It has built a portal for companies to suck as much of our time as they demand, without giving us ability to protect ourselves. Surely, there have been some attempts to solve the problem, with features like Do Not Disturb and Bedtime, most of them have been half-assed at best. The market has tried to fill the void, but the OS restrictions render most efforts futile.

Currently, the iOS, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system as company calls it,  is built to serve apps and app developers. Apple should focus on its OS serving its users first, and the apps second.

1 · Attention

I have touched on this before, within the context of the Apple Watch, but I believe Apple has built a device that is so compelling visually, and connected to apps that literally have PhDs working to get you addicted to your, that the users are treated like mice in a lab pressing on pedals to get the next hit. This is unsustainable, and also irresponsible.

I believe Apple should give users enough data, both in raw and visually appealing formats to help them make informed choices. Moreover, the OS should allow people to limit their (or their kids’) use of their phones. And lastly, Apple should use technology to help users, if any to offset the thousands of people to trying to get them addicted.

1.1 · Allow Users to See where their Time Went

First of all, Apple needs to give users a way to see how much they spend on their phones, per app. There are clumsy ways to do this data. The popular  Moment does this literally inspecting the battery usage screen’s screenshot. The lengths developer Kevin Holesh went to make this app useful is remarkable, and application itself is definitely worth it but it shouldn’t be this hard. And it is not enough.

A user should be able to go to a section either on the Settings app, or maybe the Health app, and see the number of hours —of course it is hours— they have spent on their phone, per day, per app. If this data contains average session time, as defined by either the app being on the foreground, or in the case of iPhone X, looked at, even better. The sophisticated face tracking on the new iPhone can already tell if you are paying attention to your phone, why not use that data for good?

FaceID Demonstration

Paying serious attention

In an ideal case, Apple would make this data available with a rich, queryable API. This is obviously tricky with the privacy implications; ironically this kind data would be a goldmine for anyone to optimize their engagement tactics. However, even a categorized dataset, with app names discarded would be immensely useful. This way, users can see if they really should spending hours a day in a social media app. At the very least, Apple can share this data, in aggregate with public health and research institutions.

1.2 · Allow Time Based and Screen Time Limits for Apps

Second of all, Apple should allow users to limit time spent on an app, possibly as part of parental settings, or Restrictions, as Apple calls it. There is already precedent for this. Apple allows granular settings to disable things from downloading apps altogether to changing privacy settings, allowing location access and such.

Users should be able to set either duration limits per app (e.g. 1hr/day, 10hrs/week), time limits (e.g. only between 5PM and 8PM) or both. Either of these would be socially accepted, if not welcome. Bill Gates himself limits his kids’ time with technology, and so did Steve Jobs, and Jony Ive.. Such features should be built into the OS.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on stage

Low tech parents

As an aside, I think there are lots of visual ways to encourage proper app habits. Apps’ icons could slowly darken, show a small progress indicator (like when they are being installed), or other ways. This way, someone can tell that they have Instagrammed enough for the day.

1.3 · Make Useful Recommendations

With the new Apple Watch, and watchOS 4, Apple is working with Stanford to detect arrhythmia, by comparing current heart rate data, to that user’s known baseline. Since its inception,  Watch used rings, to encourage people to “stand up”, and move around. Even my Garmin watch keeps track of when I am standing still for too long.

Apple can do this for maintaining attention too. Next time you find yourself stressed, notice how you switch between apps, over and over again. Look at how people sometimes close an app, swipe around, come back to the same app just to send that one last text. These are observable patterns of stress.

Apple can, proactively and reactively, watch for these patterns and recommend someone to take a breather, maybe literally. With Watch, Apple went out of its way to build a custom vibration to simulate stretching on your wrist for breathing exercises. The attention to detail, and license to be playful is there. Just using on-device learning, Apple can tell when you are stressed, nervous, just swiping back and forth, and recommend a way to relax. Moreover, the OS can even see if the users’ sessions between apps are too short, or too long, make suggestions based on that kind of data.

Display on a Mercedes Car showing Attention Assist

Attention Assist, Indeed

As mentioned, there’s a lot of precedent for determining mental state using technology, and making recommendations. Any recent Mercedes will determine your fatigue based on how you drive, and recommend you take a coffee break. Many of GM’s new cars have driver facing cameras where the camera can tell your eyes are open and paying attention during self-driving mode. Using your phone is not as risky as driving a car, but for many, a phone is a much bigger part of your life.

2 · Notifications

Notifications on iOS are broken. With every iOS release, Apple tries to redo the notification settings, in a valiant effort to allow people to handle the deluge of pings. There are many notification settings hidden inside Settings app, with cryptic names like banners, alerts, and many more.

Apple Notification Guidelines

If only

However, currently all notifications from all apps are on a single plane. An annoying campaign update from a fledging app to re-engage you gets the same treatment as your mom trying to say hi. Moreover, apps abuse notification channels; the permissions are forever but the users’ interests are not. And of course, the data is sorely missing.

2.1 · Allow Users to See Data about Notifications and their Engagement

Again, this is a simple one. Apple should make data both the raw data as well as an easily digestible reporting about notifications available to a user. It is easy for this to get out of hand, but I think even a single listing where apps are ranked by notifications per week or day would be useful. Users should be able to tell that their shopping app they used once have been sending them notifications that they have been ignoring.

2.2 · Categorize and Group Notifications

Apple should allow smarter grouping of notifications, similar to email. Currently, as said, notifications largely have a single channel. However, this doesn’t scale. Tristan Harris and his group make a good suggestion; separate notifications by their origin. Anything that is directly caused by a user action should be separated from other notifications to start with. This would mean that your friend sending a message would be a different type of notification than Twitter telling you to nudge them.

I think there are even bigger opportunities here; without getting too much into it, Apple can help developers tie notifications to specific people, start categorizing them by intent. Literally anything, over what is currently available, would be an improvement.

This idea would definitely  receive a ton of pushback, especially from companies whose business relies on getting users addicted to their products. However, the maintaining toxic business models shouldn’t be a priority. If a user does not want to launch Facebook, then they shouldn’t have to. If an app can drive engagement, or whatever one might call mindlessly scrolling, only with an annoying push notification, maybe they shouldn’t be able to.

This is the kind of storm Apple can weather. While Apple cherishes its relationships with apps, it essentially is beholden primarily to its users. And such a change would almost certainly be welcome by users.

2.3 · Allow Short Term Permissions for Notifications

For many types of apps, notifications are only useful for a limited amount of time. When you call an Uber, or order food, you do want notifications but other times, an email would or a low-key notification would suffice. Users should be able to give apps a temporary permission to nudge them, and then the window should automatically close.

This is something some people are already familiar with. Many professionals, such as doctors, college professors, and lawyers have office hours when you can talk to them freely, but other times, you cannot.

2.4 · Make Useful Recommendations

Once again, Apple can even take a more proactive role and help users manage their notifications by making recommendations. For example, the OS can keep track of notifications one engages with meaningfully, or not. This way, the phone can ask the user if they would like to silence an app that they never use.

Apple already does this, to some degree with app developers; if you app’s notifications are too spammy, and users rarely engage, you’ll get a call. However, the users should have a say. An app that might be meaningful to a user might be spammy to other. The OS can make these decisions, or at least make smart recommendations. A feature like this literally exists to help you save space on your phone’s memory; why not for your notifications too?

Ending Thoughts

I believe that an attention based economy, where millions of people are in a constant state of distraction, with tiny short bursts of concentration is dangerous to our mental health as individuals, and society as a whole. Wasting hours switching between apps, not accomplishing anything is one thing, but  a constant need to be entertained, a lack of ability to be with one’s thoughts, not being able to just be around people, without pulling out a phone, are all going to cause wide social issues we’ll tackle with for years. When the people who have built these tools are scared, it’s a good sign that we lost control of our creations.

Surprisingly, iOS is lagging much behind Android in this aspect. I have almost exclusively used an iPhone since its launch, and written bulk of this piece without doing much research. I was surprised, and somewhat embarrassed to see most of what I proposed in the Attention section, such as bedtimes, app limits already exist in Android as part of Family Link. And of course, tools like RescueTime existed for Mac and Windows to help people see where their time went, but their functionality is next to useless in iOS. As mentioned, even Moments app can do only so much within the confines of Apple’s ecosystem.

I wholeheartedly think that unless we approach this issue like we did smoking, and elevate the discussion to a public health issue, it won’t get solved. However, there are ways to help curb the problem, and it is time Apple took the matter to its own hands.

Unlike most other tech companies, Apple makes most of its money by selling hardware to consumers. Every couple years, you buy an iPhone, and maybe an app or two, and Apple gets a cool thousand bucks,. Apple’s incentives, although recently less so with the increasing services revenue, lies with those of its users, not the advertisers or the marketers. If Apple is serious about its health focus, now is the right time to act.


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