Most of us probably agree that we spend too much time on our devices. This is evident both internally, in how we feel after scrolling social media for hours, and externally, i.e. in statistics on mental health and the political fragmentation we see today.

There are many apps that claim to help with this, and they can certainly be useful. Some offer scheduled usage times or scheduled greyscale mode, others provide a few seconds of "wait time" before entering a specific app, and others consist of a "minimalist launcher" designed to make the phone feel less addictive. Much of this is good, and these apps are downloaded extensively, but the field is extremely fragmented, consisting of numerous small apps where it is difficult to know where to start. Instead, the leading apps are Apple and Google's own digital wellbeing services built into iOS and Android but it goes without saying that they lack credibility when those same actors want you to use your devices as much as possible and they are very easy to circumvent.

These small apps are also very insecure, and it is rarely clear how safe they actually are regarding data collection. Often, the apps require extensive permissions, making it possible to harvest a lot of data from users who are likely quite desperate to reduce their screen time.

This is where I believe Proton has the potential to take the lead and create the world's leading service for digital wellbeing that respects your data and security. I’m imagining an app for iPhone/Android/PC/Mac/Linux called something like "Proton Mind," where all the functions found in existing small apps are housed under one roof. Proton has an excellent reputation for ethics and morality, and the resources to keep these types of apps regularly updated (which is not always the case with the existing apps), and would be virtually without competition in this area since no big tech company wants its users to use their devices or platforms less. It could also serve as a great advertisement for all of Proton's services if they become a credible player in the digital wellbeing space. You could offer a separate "Mind Plus" subscription, similar to the Mail and VPN tiers, and bundle it into the existing all-in-one solutions.

That’s not to say it comes without challenges, but if Proton were to become the market leader in this field and allowing you to use just one app instead of several, it would boost the credibility of Proton's other services as well.