Smart Use of Screen Time: Apps with Benefits
Screen time takes a large part of a modern person's life, making it important to look at how we use it. Instead of just taking information without action, we should focus on life aspects giving us benefits or building needed skills.
First, screen time must aim for learning and work growth — taking online courses, reading special books, and learning new technologies, helping you to get better at your job.
Using the screen for knowledge access or reading science articles is also a good activity.
You can use screen time well for speaking with family and friends living far away, or for working on group projects and interest clubs. Doing this helps your feelings and makes you feel like you belong.
Apps helping you with collecting, gardening, or tracking important things, like the ones below, change your screen use into a tool for real action. Using the screen this way, supporting and making your real life better, is the smartest and most helpful way for personal growth.
Coin ID Scanner
Coin ID Scanner is a coin lookup app made for Android and iOS phones and tablets, allowing users to find out about coins.
The app uses a Freemium model, meaning basic features are free, but most bigger features need a paid plan.
Identification by Photo
The user can upload an old photo from the gallery or take a new picture right in the app. The system looks at the image and sends the user to a special coin card.
This card has detailed facts, helping with coin value and listing.
Information includes the years the coin was made, its country, type, edge details, what it is made of, the diameter, weight, and an estimated price.
Collection Management
Users can add the coins they found to this collection — to sort the coins you have and watch how the collection changes.
It holds facts about over 187,000 coins from all parts of the world.
For easier finding, paid plans have smart filters, letting you set exact search rules. You can also search by typing words or by using the coin's ID number.
AI Helper
The app includes the AI Coin Helper feature, being a virtual assistant using AI.
This tool aims to give extra facts and answers to questions about coin collecting and specific coins.
The helper can act like an advisor, assisting the user to understand hard parts of collecting.
Its goal is to make the user experience better, giving quick and correct help on questions about coins, their past, cost, or how rare they are.
AI Plant Finder
AI Plant Finder is an Android and iOS plant disease app for people who like plants and gardening.
It also works as Freemium, giving basic features for free while a paid plan gives access to all tools.
Identification and Plant Diagnosis
AI Plant Finder can check for diseases using a photo. If the user sees signs of sickness, taking a picture lets the app find the disease.
After checking, the system gives the user likely reasons for the problem, also including a full treatment plan and ways to stop it from happening again.
Large Database and Care Tips
The plant ID app has a large database, holding facts on more than 300,000 species. Like other apps, searching by typing words or by using the plant ID is possible.
Expert tips for plant care are available to users. These tips cover all important parts, from watering to keeping the plant in the right place.
The AI Botanist tool is an AI virtual helper, giving expert knowledge and answering user questions about gardening and plant science.
Gardener's Tools
The "My Garden Tool" feature lets the user keep a list of the plants they own. For each plant, you can set special reminders. You set reminders for actions like watering, cutting, giving food, and turning the plant for equal light.
An extra tool is the "Water Calculator". To find the right water amount, the user enters the plant type, the pot kind, the current temperature, and the air moisture. Using this data, the app gives a suggestion for how much water to use.
There is also a "Light Meter", using the camera to find the current light level in lux where the camera is pointed.
Number Tracker
The Number Tracker app works as Freemium, giving a small number of features for free, with full access needing a paid plan.
The app focuses on making groups safer and helping them work together.
Creating Circles and Location
The main feature is making "circles", like family members or friends, able to see each other's location.
In the circle, the "Friend’s Location" feature is open, letting you track friends, family members, children, or older relatives.
The app also lets you make "Places Creation" — you can mark key spots on the map, like home, work, or school.
The number of places you can save is limited in the free version.
Device Tracking and Movement History
The app includes the "Find Devices" feature, letting you add a device, such as a phone or tablet, to a favorites list.
It then shows the signal strength from this device, helping you find its exact spot. This is useful for finding lost items. Users can also use "Fast Check-In," quickly marking their current spot on the map.
Everyone in the circle will see this mark. "Movement History" is a feature recording and saving the user's past movements, letting you see where and when the user was.
Extra Features
The Number Tracker app offers the "Fast Request by Number" feature, probably letting you quickly send a request to join a circle or find a location using a phone number.
The app also has an "AI Virtual Helper". This is an AI assistant, able to give facts or help with using the app's features. It can answer questions about tracking, safety, and settings.
Conclusion
After looking at the app features, it is important to return to the question of what the main screen time should be for. The most valuable time is the time used for creating, not just for taking things in.
This means you should choose tools helping you to create, practice, or make something better in the real world.
These tools directly change how good your life is. Also, as said at the start, apps continuing real hobbies are useful. For example, AI Plant Finder helps a person care for real plants, and Coin ID Scanner sorts a physical collection.
Screen time should be active, aiming at clear goals, being for your personal growth, keeping healthy, or sorting out your real life.