Android adds a feature to stop you from doomscrolling | TechCrunch

"Pause Point works by requiring a 10-second pause after you open any app you've labeled for yourself as being a distraction. TikTok, Instagram, X, and even Google's YouTube could be the kind of apps labeled as "distracting" by Android device owners worried about the power of time-sucking algorithms to eat away at their day."

"With the addition, Google isn't only thinking of users' well-being, of course. It's reacting to increasing regulatory pressure around social media harms and algorithmic dangers. Today, many countries and U.S. states have created laws to restrict or ban minors from using social media, as the impacts of these apps on young people's mental well-being have become better understood."

"Pause Point flips that idea on its head, as it interrupts the app's launch - and the dopamine flood that follows - to force you to stop and rethink whether this is what you actually want to do, or is just a habit you'd like to break."

""Android is more capable than ever, but we also want to give you the tools to disconnect when you need to," explained Dieter Bohn, previously Executive Editor at The Verge, now Director of Product Operations for Google's Platforms & Ecosystems organization, in a press briefing about the Android 17 update. "I think that we are all guilty of going into our phone and then opening some app and getting stuck on autopilot, and an hour has gone by," he said."

Pause Point is an Android feature that helps limit engagement with apps labeled as distractions. After opening a designated distracting app, the system requires a 10-second pause before the app continues. Apps such as TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube can be marked as distracting by device owners. The feature responds to growing regulatory pressure focused on social media harms and algorithmic risks, including laws restricting or banning minors’ social media use. It also provides a tool for users to disconnect when needed. Instead of using app timers after scrolling begins, Pause Point interrupts the app launch to break autopilot behavior and prompt users to decide whether they truly want to continue.

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