Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Developed A Solution For Smartphone Addiction

There is a plethora of research that says that a good number of smartphone users are now addicted to their smartphones. In a survey published by Delvv, a Palo Alto app company, it was found out that 84 percent of the respondents deem their smartphones crucial, with 35 percent checking their phones over 50 times a day. With this kind of fixation for their devices, it’s no surprise that teams like the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed smartphone addiction solutions like Lock 'n Lol.

Lock 'n Lol is a smartphone app with the tagline “Lock your smartphones and Laugh out louder!” The team, led by Professor Uichin Lee of the department of knowledge service engineering, designed the app to use a system of accountability that locks the users’ phones, so that they limit their incessant checking of their devices. In order to unlock the phone again, they must ask for permission to unlock their phone.

After the user gets permission to see their devices unlocked, they only have access to the phone for a five minutes. The app also uses a co-location system to ping other users nearby to encourage them to remind other users to limit their phone use.

In a statement from Professor Uichin Lee, it was outlined that the app was pretty effective on the 1,000 students that they tested it on:

“We discovered students freed up more than 10,000 hours from using the app on their smartphones. They were able to focus more on group activities. In the future we expect the adverse effects of mobile distractions and addictions will emerge as a social concern, and our Lock n' LoL is a key effort to address this issue. This app could certainly help family members interact more with each other during the Christmas season.”

Indeed, there is a growing trend of disconnecting from smartphone addiction. In a photo series by US photographer Eric Pickersgill entitled “Removed,” the stark depiction of today’s virulent smartphone addiction was exposed.

Lock 'n Lol is available on Google Play. So gather your friends, ask them to keep you accountable, and y’all go Lock 'n Lol.

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With information from Mirror UK: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/app-locks-shuts-down-phones-7029670

Lock 'n Lol on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kr.ac.kaist.ic.locknlol&hl=en

“Removed” by on Quartz: https://qz.com/523746/a-photographer-edits-out-our-smartphones-to-show-our-strange-and-lonely-new-world/

The Delvv survey on smartphone use: https://delvv.com/blog/?p=272