From the national media to your smartphone and every social media platform that’s ever been created, you have a million little things that are trying to wrestle you away from controlling your own time. And that’s saying nothing of the all the people, from families and friends to colleagues and bosses who can be quite demanding of your time. Plus, there is a growing body of literature that seems to suggest that this constant state of distraction is, at best, hurting our ability to be productive and, at worst, negatively affecting our mental and physical health, causing issues like depression, anxiety, and feelings of social isolation.
Fortunately, there are a few companies dedicated to creating products, websites, and application that do the opposite of most apps. That’s right, rather than take your time, these apps give it back.
So put your phone on do not disturb for a minute and keep reading to learn about the applications you can use to win back control of your time once and for all.
1. Unroll Me
This app was created by co founders Jojo Hedaya and Josh Rosenwald when the two were in college. They decided to put their college degrees on pause to create Unroll Me, an app that is designed to save you from the hassle of sifting through marketing emails.
What the app does is scan your email inbox for subscription emails which it then collects into a single email that Hedaya and Rosenwald have called The Roll Up. Within The Roll Up, you can one-click unsubscribe from any email you like. You can also keep the emails you do want to keep receiving and have them sent to you all at once at a frequency of your choosing.
With Unroll Me, you can take control of not just your inbox, but also your time. After all, you won’t be peppered with random emails throughout the day if you have Unroll Me because you can set them to come at your preferred frequency. This won’t just save you time checking email, it’ll also help you stay focused for longer periods of time.
2. Slice
Slice is actually the company that purchased Unroll Me after it had grown to attract millions of subscribers. But Slice is a great app on its own as it helps you keep track of your online shopping orders. Not only does it automatically compile your receipts for you, saving you hours of time searching, it also keeps track of offers across the internet so that if you purchase something and it goes on sale for much cheaper somewhere else, the app automatically lets you know.
That way, you can take advantage of the ability to get great discounts without spending a bunch of time searching for and staying updated on the latest sales at your favorite stores. Plus, you don’t have to deal with indecision when you’re trying to pull the trigger on something you want to buy because you’re worried it’s going to go on sale. If you’re someone who struggles with indecision, you probably know how much time you spend waffling. Slice can cut that time in half.
3. Moment
Unlike Slice and Unroll Me, Moment will not actually automate anything to save you time in an active way. But it can help you develop more healthy technology habits which, if done right, will save you a ton of time every single day. The way Moment works is by tracking the time you spend on your phone each day. But it also goes a step further by tracking which applications you use and for how long as well as how many times you picked up your phone. It also allows you to set daily goals for your desired screen time and it lets you know when you’re approaching your goal or if you’ve gone over your limit.
One fun thing you can do to see how effective an app like Unroll Me is for reducing the time you spend on your phone is to download Moment and keep track of the time you spend on your phone. Then, once you have Unroll Me all set up and running, keep track of your time and try to see how much you’ve reduced your screen time by. Then add Slice and see how your time spent on the phone keeps going down.
4. Freedom
The Freedom app does just what its name suggests: it sets you free from distracting sites like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others. The way it works is simple. All you have to do, once you download the app, is set a timer based on the amount of time you’d like to prevent yourself from accessing certain apps and get to work. Based on what you set the timer at, you won’t be able to access distracting sites which will force you to focus on the task at hand.
You can even combine Freedom with your own techniques for working, like the Pomodoro technique, to ensure you follow through on your plan to have a distraction-free work session. Again, unlike Unroll Me and Slice, Freedom won’t exactly accomplish tasks for you automatically, but it will make you more productive. And the more productive you are when you need to be, the more relaxed you can be when you don’t need to be productive.
Making Your Time Your Own
Each one of these apps, whether it is Unroll Me or Freedom can help you gain back time in your day. Since time is one of the few things that money can’t buy, it’s definitely a good idea to give a few of these apps a try. Using an app like Moment, or something similar, try to keep track of how your screen time is progressing, and keep looking for ways that you can adjust the settings on your devices to make it easier and easier for you to truly be in control of your own time.
