Marketplace Tech With Molly Wood

This episode originally aired on August 19th, 2024.Six years ago, Apple introduced a new feature on iPhones and iPads: The Screen Time Report.The notification pops up every Sunday and it informs iPhone users with a handy graph — just as they’re trying to relax before a stressful week — that they have once again failed to reduce their phone time over the past week.The feature promised to empower users to manage their device time and balance the things that are really important. But is it actually doing that?Caroline Mimbs Nyce, a staff writer at The Atlantic, recently wrote about why she thinks Screen Time is the worst feature Apple has ever made. She told Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino that it sometimes feels like Screen Time is doing more guilt-tripping than empowering these days.   The following is an edited transcript of their conversation. Caroline Mimbs Nyce: Time is just sort of a weird way to measure our relationship with our devices. We have these sort of magical smartphones that come with a lot