The App That Saves Me 23 Minutes a Day

A free app that stops Silicon Valley companies from taking our attention

Photo by Brooks Leibee on Unsplash

On average, teens spend 91 minutes per day on TikTok and 56 minutes per day on YouTube.

Across a lifetime, that’s 8 years spent mindlessly scrolling through content.

To me, the shift to over-consumption of content (especially among teens and young adults) is one of the most pressing problems the world is currently facing.

Because of my obsession with this issue, I constantly look for solutions (such as Screen Time and Focus Modes).

Last week, I found a simple but impactful tool: one sec.

Here’s how it works:

About The App

As of the time of writing, one sec has 1.1k ratings at 4.8/5 stars. For those who aren’t native English speakers, the app is available in Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Turkish, and Ukrainian.

Here’s how one sec works:

When you open specific apps, one sec will open a breathing prompt. After a few seconds, it will ask you if you want to continue to the app you initially opened.

Setting up one sec is pretty simple—all you have to do is set up a simple automation in the Shortcuts app.

The app does have a paid version at $14.99 per year (students get 50% off). If you have the ability to pay, I actually think that this is a good deal. Don’t get me wrong though—the free version is still great on its own.

How I Use It

I’m pretty disciplined with social media: I don’t have Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, BeReal, or Facebook. And when I do use social media, I usually stay on-task and don’t get too distracted.

The only platform I truly struggle with is YouTube—from time to time, I’ll find myself mindlessly scrolling through content.

That’s where one sec comes in. The app’s breathing prompt has two effects when I open up YouTube:

1. I ask myself if YouTube is the best use of my free time. The answer is almost always no, and this thought occasionally convinces me to turn off my phone and reach for my Kindle instead.

2. It makes it very annoying to use YouTube. Having to wait a few seconds before I open YouTube affects the instant gratification sensation, which makes it less fun and addictive to use the app.

Both of these reduce the addictive gratification of YouTube, meaning that I end up wasting less time.

In total (across my iPhone and iPad), I save around 23 minutes per day. Considering that I already spent far less time on social media than other teens, that’s a huge accomplishment.

If you’re someone who spends hours a day on TikTok, Instagram, or other social platforms, one sec could genuinely change your life.

The Annoying Stuff

There are a couple annoying issues in the free version (it looks these are fixed if you upgrade to the paid version):

First, app switching gets very, very annoying in the free version. You basically can’t leave the app at all without triggering one sec once you re-enter it.

Second, using Split View/Slide Over on the iPad is challenging when using one sec.

While these annoyances are helpful if you’re using the app for entertainment, it isn’t helpful when you’re using the app for educational purposes.

What You Should Do

Pick a social media app you often find yourself mindlessly scrolling through.

Using the instructions from one sec, set up the breathing prompt automation.

After testing out the free version for a few days, see if you like one sec. Ideally, you should hate one sec for stopping you from using social media.

If you feel like you want the extra features offered by the paid version, check out one sec’s trial period. And if you do end up going paid, you can usually find discounts online (and students get 50% off).

Final Thoughts

“The tycoons of social media have to stop pretending that they’re friendly nerd gods building a better world and admit they’re just tobacco farmers in T-shirts selling an addictive product to children. Because, let’s face it, checking your “likes” is the new smoking.” - Cal Newport

Thanks for reading!

Adi