Apple released a new update this month that has resulted in exposes of nasty truths- how much time we really spend on our phone, which apps we spend the most time on, and our cell phone habits in general.

You can see how many times you have picked up your phone, received a notification, what apps you have used, and the allotted time spent. It also includes your average time per day across the span of one week, indicating if your time has decreased or increased according to past cellular usage.

Apple’s original goal was to improve their parental control restrictions with this new update. However it came with added benefits. In a Dec. 3 article, Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering said that “people are now able to manage their device time, and balance the many things that are important to them.”

This all sounds very endearing, however, students here say that their habits are unlikely to change. The new update will be a minor inconvenience and uncomfortable truth in their day to day lives.

“I don’t think I will change my cell phone habits entirely, but it will definitely make me more aware,” said senior Katie Stovold.  

This opinion is widely held, despite Apple’s well intended goals.

“Only the minority of people, I think, will actually end up changing their habits,” said school psychologist Dr. Lisa Hoffman.

Dr. Hoffman included the word “minority” because there is still a group of people that may consider changing their habits.

Take senior Emma Johnson, who went three months without a phone and said that it was “the happiest [she’s] ever been” and “the time where [she] received the best grades.”

This update sparked great interest in Johnson. “Because of this update I recently deleted Snapchat, which in the past had been a waste of my time,” she said.

The implementation of this technology is a definite positive, Dr. Hoffman explained. “Habits are difficult to change–often you have to replace a habit with a new one in order to really get rid of it,” she said.

Dr. Hoffman predicted that with the difficulty of changing habits in general, changing cellular phone usage will be just as difficult.

“What are people willing to supplement their cell phone usage with? I don’t know, but I think that it will be an interesting question to as,” said Dr. Hoffman.