We spend an average of four hours a day using smartphones

The first thing we do when we wake up is reach for our smartphones. The last thing we do before bed is place our smartphones on the bedside table. We touch our smartphones more than 2,600 times a day on average, picking them up about once every 10 minutes. It's not just during waking hours—nearly one in three people, and half of those aged 18 to 24, check their smartphones at least once during the night. Smartphones are sometimes likened to our latest drug, leading us into addiction, which in turn contributes to various societal issues such as sleep disorders, depression, decreased memory and concentration, and lower academic performance.

*For more details, I recommend reading the book "Insta-Brain". The following text is based on this book.

The brain loves "new" and "maybe."

In human evolutionary history spanning six million years, the era of hunting and gathering has dominated, with the popularity of smartphones and the internet emerging only in the last 10 to 20 years. Hence, it can be said that our current lifestyle has abruptly changed in the blink of an eye. Consequently, our brains are still optimized for the mechanisms of the hunting and gathering era.

It's no wonder that humans crave knowledge. Understanding our surroundings deeply increases our chances of survival. Today, this craving is directed towards new knowledge and information brought to us by smartphones. Each time we flip through smartphone pages, our brains release dopamine, making us addicted to clicking. Interestingly, we're often more engrossed in the next page than the one we're currently reading.

The primary task of dopamine is to provide humans with motivation to act. In most cases, hearing a notification sound increases dopamine more than actually reading emails or chats. Feeling a strong urge for something important, we pick up our smartphones with a thought of "just taking a quick look," frequently doing so every 10 minutes while awake.

Social media decreases life satisfaction.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X, and TikTok also induce a desire to check for important updates or likes. They exploit the reward system by satisfying our digital approval desires. The mechanism resembles that of playing just one more game of poker, striving to win. Essentially, this leads to addiction. These companies employ behavioral and neuroscientists to ensure their apps effectively target the brain's reward system, maximizing dependency.

They could have prevented sleep disruption, facilitated physical activity, and avoided spreading misinformation. In terms of profitability, they've undoubtedly succeeded in hacking our brains. Consequently, we spend more and more time on social media, reducing time spent on other activities.

A study involving nearly 2,000 Americans revealed that frequent social media users often feel loneliness. Another experiment involving over 5,000 people found that real-life social interactions increased happiness, while more time spent on Facebook decreased it.

On the internet, there are people who are better, smarter, cooler, richer, or more successful than us in every dimension. It's not surprising that this constant comparison affects our mental health.

In free-to-use smartphone apps, we ourselves are the commodity

Products of apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X, and TikTok allow us to freely share messages, images, and videos, satisfying our digital approval desires. Their product is our attention, which they aim to sell to various advertisers, maximizing the amount of time taken from us (to sell ads).

Silicon Valley is full of guilt

The creator of Facebook's "like" feature limits his own Facebook use and has stopped using Snapchat. This is because addiction is said to be comparable to heroin. Tony Fadell, who was involved in developing iPods and iPhones at Apple, also expressed his concerns, saying, "I wake up sweating. What have we created? My kids look at me as if I'm trying to steal a part of them when I try to take away their screens. And they get emotional. Intensely. Then they go numb for days."

Even the famous Steve Jobs said, "I don't even keep an iPad next to me at home. I strictly limit screen time." Bill Gates reportedly didn't allow his children to have smartphones until they turned 14.

I'm a software engineer myself. I believe that those of us in IT companies, including myself, should be aware that what we do may potentially harm people's health.

What "Time Rich" wants to achieve

"Time Rich" has the slogan "Time is Money. Be Time Rich." We want to live healthy and happy lives, and our time is limited.

Smartphones pose various challenges such as blue light and social comparison via SNS, but their biggest challenge is stealing our time.

Reclaim the time stolen by smartphones to talk with family and friends, exercise, sleep soundly, and live healthier and happier lives.

We want to habituate a life not dependent on smartphones

It is said that "95% of human thinking and behavior is unconscious." Even if we know we will gain weight, we will eat. Even if we know we need to sleep, we stay up late. Even if we want to exercise, we end up being lazy.

This is my personal experience as well, as I am also prone to addiction. To break free from addiction, habituation is key. It's about consistently doing small things little by little. Even if 30 minutes of jogging every morning seems tough, one minute of walking every morning feels achievable. Once you establish a habit of going outside in the morning, eventually jogging for 30 minutes won't seem difficult anymore.

Similarly, why not start by setting aside just one hour a day when you don't use your smartphone? I recommend doing this before bedtime. Improving the quality of sleep by avoiding smartphone use before sleep. For example, I personally limit all apps except Audible (for listening to books during walks) and Spotify (for playing background music during work) to "22:00-6:00" every day. When I sleep, my smartphone is in a room separate from my bedroom. By physically not being able to touch my smartphone even if I'm concerned about it, the quality of my sleep has clearly improved. Also, to avoid getting tired during work breaks, I also limit "9:00-18:00" on weekdays in the same way. This has allowed me to focus more on work.

While smartphones suffice for most things nowadays, once I open my smartphone to stop the alarm, I end up checking SNS smoothly. What should I do in that case? You should put an old-fashioned alarm clock that turns off the alarm.

Characteristics of "Time Rich"

There are several apps with similar functions in the world, but "Time Rich" has the following characteristics. Please check here for specific usage.

We insisted on simplicity

• You can set restrictions for apps and URLs across the entire app. There is no need to re-select for each block setting.
• Starting "Quick Block" is completed with just one tap as soon as you open the app.
• Scheduling blocks only require selecting "daily" or "day of the week" and adding a time period.
• These are the main features. There are no complicated functions at all.

You will be charged small amount of money to unblock

• It is said that people are more likely to avoid loss than to seek gain. We use this human thought process, referred to in psychology as "loss aversion." To counter the urge/desire (dopamine) to use a smartphone.
• Out of the money received at the time of unblocking, some will be donated to nonprofit organizations for mental health activities, and the remainder will be used for development costs (15% to Apple as fees), all for the improvement of mental health.

We do not include distracting features

• There are no ads. The reason is obvious.

  We do not send push notifications. Please only open your smartphone when you really need it.

We do not want to make a lot of money

As long as you do not unblock, you can use it for free, and there are no ads. We don't want you to unblock it. If we prioritize making money, the purpose would become "taking as much time as possible," causing adverse effects on mental health similar to those of well-known SNS. Our primary goal is to solve social issues related to mental health.

Whether it's a large corporation or a venture company, as more stakeholders join and more capital comes in, we inevitably need to make money, and we will increasingly move away from social good. At the moment, we have one engineer and one marketer, and both are working with their free time (that is, the time they no longer use their smartphones) and their own capital. Therefore, there is no reason for us to be so greedy about making money. We will not deviate from our core mission of making "Time Rich" and helping people stay away from smartphones.

Of course, operating entirely free of charge would make sustainability difficult, so some financial support is necessary. For those who wish to support our mission, we offer premium features available through a low-cost subscription.

Please look forward to our future activities.

"Time Rich" is our first achievement. Since mental health and sleep improvement require exercise, we are currently planning an app that will encourage exercise. We also hope to expand Time Rich internationally in the future. We plan to continue expanding with more new features, apps, and services. Please support us! If you have any requests, please feel free to contact us anytime from here.