Q: Why don’t we have digital self exclusion today?
A: Because the tech companies and device makers want our eyeballs on the screen! The Screen Time (iOS) and Digital Well Being (Android) app blockers and limiters are so bypassable as to be a joke. Once an app’s time limit is reached, a user can simply bypass with their own screen time code in less than a second. There are no teeth to these blockers and limiters.
The bypassability of these blockers and limiters, as well as people’s desire to log off, has inspired the development of apps, hardware and alternative phone solutions that seek to curb this endless, unfettered screen time.
Q: Why is now the moment to push for digital self exclusion?
A: There is significant momentum right now behind efforts to exert control over rampant screen time and phone usage, primarily among children.
Policies like ‘bell to bell’ bans are being implemented after widespread grassroots efforts by parents and even students themselves. Thirty-five states currently have some form of restriction on phones in schools with more to follow.
https://www.awayfortheday.org/latest-news/35-states-have-banned-smartphones-in-school—heres-why
In some US states (ex. Florida and Utah) and a number of countries across the globe, governments are also stepping up and banning social media for child users. There are a number of other positive reforms as it relates to regulating the use of devices and excessive screen time for children, and we fully expect these efforts to accelerate.
Q: But what about efforts for adults?
A: Most efforts to regulate devices and excessive screen time are currently being framed as child welfare measures. But what about adults that also recognize their own problematic relationship with their devices and screen time?
This is why digital self-exclusion is so important: it provides a mechanism for adults to make a self-informed and voluntary decision as to what types of apps, websites, etc. they want to allow onto their devices and into their homes. Big Tech has forced a veritable hydra of temptation into our homes: a porn theatre in our pocket; a card table right in our living room; an endless doom scroll of AI generated slop; first person footage of the latest massacre or war crime.
This also seeks to empower adults with the same self-exclusion policies for their children.
Q: How do we get there?
A: Well, we gotta start somewhere! Currently, no state has any digital self-exclusion policy or legislation being studied. This is the shot across the bow…
Our goal is to push for reform legislation at the state level that would mandate digital self exclusion functionality on all mobile devices (smartphones and tablets).
One of our initial efforts will be to begin issuing questionnaires to PA state and local candidates about their willingness to support an effort to pass a Digital Self Exclusion bill.
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