Screen time calculator
How much of your life goes to your phone?
Your phone already counts your daily screen time. Put the number in here and see what it adds up to over a year, and over the years ahead. Nothing you type leaves this page.
What a few hours a day add up to
| Screen time a day | Hours a year | Full days a year | Years between 20 and 80 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | 365 | 15 | 2.5 |
| 2 hours | 730 | 30 | 5 |
| 3 hours | 1,095 | 46 | 7.5 |
| 4 hours | 1,460 | 61 | 10 |
| 5 hours | 1,825 | 76 | 12.5 |
| 6 hours | 2,190 | 91 | 15 |
Full days are 24 hours. The years are counted the same way: 60 years at four hours a day add up to ten years of full days. Waking days are longer in effect: with eight hours of sleep, four hours of screen time is a quarter of every waking day.
How to find your screen time
- iPhone: Settings, then Screen Time. It shows the daily average and which apps take it.
- Android: Settings, then Digital Wellbeing (on some phones under another name). The dashboard shows screen time per app.
Look at the weekly average, not one day, and at the pickups too: many short looks add up as much as one long evening. How others compare: screen time statistics for Europe. What the research says about it all: phone habits.
Which hours to take back
Not every hour on the phone is wasted: a call home is not the problem. The hours worth taking back are the ones nobody chose: the “just checking” that turns into twenty minutes, the feed in bed, the phone at the dinner table.
- Mornings: a morning without scrolling.
- Notifications and habits: how to use your phone less.
- Going out: how to leave your phone at home.
- At work: phones in meetings.
- All the way: switching to a dumbphone.
- What the research says: is your phone bad for you?
The small pickups
Many of those pickups are for something small: the time and the next meeting, whether an email came, a quick question. Lychnos Ring is being built to answer those on your finger, over its own eSIM, so the phone can stay in your bag. It is in development; see an assistant that works without your phone.
Questions
How do I find my screen time?
On an iPhone, open Settings, then Screen Time. On Android, open Settings, then Digital Wellbeing (the name varies by maker). Both show a daily average for the past week.
Is all screen time bad?
No. Calling family, reading or finding the way are good uses of a phone. The calculator counts hours, not their worth; the useful question is which of those hours you would rather have back.
Why count waking days?
Because you spend your phone time awake. With eight hours of sleep a day has 16 waking hours, so four hours of screen time is a quarter of your waking day.