Editing 2223: Screen Time

{{comic
| number    = 2223
| date      = November 1, 2019
| title     = Screen Time
| image     = screen_time.png
| titletext = These new Bluetooth socks are great, but it's troubling to learn that I average almost 14 hours of Shoe Time a day.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is reading the report from a smartphone app showing the average time each day that he was NOT looking at his phone during the hours he was awake this last week.  This is a reversal of the more expected behavior for a {{w|screen time|screen-time}} app, which would normally report the amount of time spent looking at the screen. The point is that as mobile phone usage becomes more prevalent, it may be easier to comprehend to report non-screen time.

People in the US spent an average of 24 hours of non-work/education screen time per week in 2015, compared to 10 hours of active leisure, according to one estimate.[[https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2016/09/13/how-free-time-became-screen-time/ How free time became screen time]]  Averaged per day that comes to 3.4 hours screen time and 1.4 hours active leisure.

Screen time may be associated with various undesirable conditions, such as mental health difficulties like depression, decreased activity, reduced sleep quality and quantity.

In Cueball's particular case, if we assume that he is awake 17 hours a day (the average for most people in USA), then his non-screen time average of 2 hours 48 minutes means that he spent more than 84% of his awake time last week looking at a screen. This means that while his 6% improvement is positive, he still has quite a significant habit. His previous non-screen-time would have been 2 hours 38 minutes, so he has managed to shave 10 minutes off.  Increased screen time often comes at the expense of decreased sleep time, so it may not be fair to assume a constant amount of sleep.<ref>[[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5279707 Digital media use in the 2 h before bedtime is associated with sleep variables in university students]]</ref><ref>[[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389945717303507 Decreases in self-reported sleep duration among U.S. adolescents 2009–2015 and association with new media screen time]]</ref>

Ironically, in order for Cueball to use the app, he has to be looking at his mobile screen.

The increasing use of mobile devices in modern society has been a cause for concern, with many people arguing this leads to addiction, other health risks, or people simply not talking to each other. There are apps available to help manage the time people spend on their devices.  But this comic parodies these apps, suggesting that the problem is so bad, that it would be easier to track the time NOT spent on these devices. 

The title text parodies the idea of a screen time app by describing a "shoe time" app, which would track the amount of time a person spends wearing shoes. It's unclear what the practical use for this would be, as there is little controversy about the prevalence of shoes in our society. Possibly an app that tracks the amount of time wearing ''specific'' shoes could be useful; for example, a person suffering medical problems from wearing the wrong footwear could track the amount of time they spend wearing particular shoes, and correlate this with their health to figure out which ones are causing problems.

Possibly, the point being made is that use of phones have become so constant in our lives that using them for many hours a day is as unremarkable as using shoes for many hours a day. Or, since it's the socks that are Bluetooth-enabled, they may be reporting negatively about almost constant obstruction by shoes, whereas the socks would prefer to report a much lower "Shoe Time" score.

Some cultures have the custom of taking shoes off when in the house, so those people would boast lower (and presumably more favorable) "Shoe Time" scores.  It may also be a reference to the "{{w|shoe phone}}" on the television show ''{{w|Get Smart}}''. (If {{w|Maxwell Smart}} wore these socks, they could track his phone usage, because his phone was in his shoe).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball  is looking down at his phone. The text is what he reads on the screen, as shown by a zigzag line emanating from a starburst at the top of the phone.]
:Phone: Screen time report:
:Phone: While awake, you averaged 2<small>H</small> 48<small>M</small> per day looking at things other than your phone. That's up 6% from last week!

:[Caption below the panel]
:At some point, it starts making more sense to track '''''non'''''-screen time.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Screen Time]]