An Innovative App to Motivate Young Children to Overcome Phone Addiction

Abstract

A recent study has discovered that excessive use of smartphones increases the risk of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among school children. "Focus Beetle" is developed to motivate young children to develop the self-discipline to overcome the distraction of smartphones, reduces the time spent on the smartphone, stay focused, and concentrate in real life to improve productivity. It is a gamified habit-building application written in Swift and available on the iOS platform. The application consists of five functions: a) "Focus Timer" for monitoring and reminding the child not to be distracted by smartphone during "Focus Time". b) "Beetle Nurturing" for awarding the child who can stay focused. The beetle will grow from egg to adult when the focus challenge is completed. More beetles will be available when the child spends less time on the smartphone. c) "Tasks" for the child to develop good habits. It has notification features to remind him to complete the task on time. d) "Statistic and Timeline" for visualizing the focus records and analyzing personal time distribution. e) "Cloud-based data storage" for keeping user data across multiple devices. "Focus Beetle" a fun way to help the young child overcome smartphone addiction.