Inspiration
Excessive screen time and phone use is a major problem in the 21st century, with teens and adults alike. In fact, all around the world, teenagers spend about 7 hours and 22 minutes per day on their devices. That number is equivalent to 43% of their walking hours. Our group ourselves also suffer from excessive screen time. The internet and the technology of the 21st century has made a massive positive impact on our day to day lives, but with this great technology, these negative side effects arised. We took it upon ourselves to develop a website that would help both teens and adults alike to break away from their phones and devices and manage their time more properly and efficiently with an engaging points and reward system to motivate the user and keep them on the straight path.
What it does
Our website allows the user to observe how much screen time they average on a day to day basis, and helps them stay focused and limit themselves. Our website uses a unique points-based system to help motivate the user to limit themselves and use the website more efficiently. On the weekdays, the website tracks the user’s screen time. Every day, the less screen time the user spends, the more points they will receive. With these points, the user can purchase screen time for the weekend. The system is a new and unique method to help users stay motivated on their goals and effectively execute them.
How we built it
Our website is powered by various languages and frameworks, including HTML, CSS, Python, Flask (a framework of Python), and some embedded Javascript.
Challenges we ran into
We ran into numerous bugs with the program that we quickly fixed. However, we also faced multiple glitches in the IDE that had us running circles around the code. Thankfully, we persevered.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are happy to report that we made it look pretty appealing and were how much functionality we put in. This has been our biggest and coolest project.
What we learned
As we developed our website, we learned a variety of new methods and uses for the programming languages we already knew. We also learned to manage our time more properly, as we worked on one topic for nine hours. We experienced and developed useful knowledge of how people in careers work in teams, and how they work simultaneously for many hours at a time.
What's next for ScreenTime Tracker
We plan to add on many features that will go a long way to improve the tracker. We may add custom controls to let the user, and maybe an admin or supervisor account, add their own unique prizes. We can also add a shared version where multiple users, such as a family, set collective screen time goals, building up points to unlocking group rewards. We also plan to add more progress visualization to help the user stay on track on their goal. There are simply too many possibilities for use to list here, but we have visions to make this website a groundbreaking tool to help millions of users break free from their phones and devices, and help be more productive.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.