Every phone should have a Zen Mode

May 16, 2019
Technology

Smartphones are addictive, and while smartphone addiction is not something that can be treated medically, it’s clear that humanity has reached a point where smartphones (and technology in general) are so ingrained in our lives that it’s having an effect.

Children used to spend their days living and enjoying life, but now kids as young as four or five get their first smartphones. A life where technology is first and foremost starts much earlier, pulling ahead of real-world experiences. Friends you hang out with in person are often replaced by those you communicate with digitally. Sure, your friend group is much larger now, but is it healthy?

Android Pie bought us our first glimpse of companies attempting to change our smartphone habits for the better through Digital Wellbeing. All of those were helpful prompts rather than actual actions, although Digital Wellbeing is improved in Android Q. Now the OnePlus 7 Pro brings us Zen Mode, and with it comes a feature I wish we’d see on every digital device.

What is Zen Mode on the OnePlus 7 Pro?

OxygenOS Zen Mode

So what is Zen Mode? It’s a feature that disables everything but incoming and emergency calls and the camera for 20 minutes. Once you activate it, there’s no way to disable it, and it forces you to live life rather than be engrossed in your screen.

Of course, you have to activate it and that’s half of the battle. Yet, over the past couple of weeks, I’ve found I use Zen Mode at least once per day.