Doom SaverGlossary
Screen Time Glossary
Twenty five Android settings, permissions and habit terms, each explained in two or three sentences.
Published By Samina Jameel
This glossary explains, in plain words, the Android settings, permissions and habit terms that come up when you try to cut your screen time. Each entry is two or three sentences and links to a full guide where there is one.
The terms people ask about most are Usage Access, Digital Wellbeing, Pause Point and doomscrolling.
- Accessibility service
- Advanced Protection
- App blocker
- App timer
- Bedtime mode
- Brain rot
- Digital detox
- Digital minimalism
- Digital Wellbeing
- Display over other apps
- Doomscrolling
- Dopamine detox
- Focus mode
- Friction
- Grayscale
- Infinite scroll
- Pause Point
- Persistent notification
- Phubbing
- Restricted settings
- Revenge bedtime procrastination
- Screen time
- Unlocks
- Usage Access
- Variable reward
Android settings and permissions
Accessibility service
A powerful Android permission built for screen readers, switch controls and voice access. An app holding it can read text on screen, see much of what you type and tap buttons in other apps. Many app blockers use it to reach inside apps, for example to hide Reels.
Advanced Protection
Google's high-security mode for Android, introduced with Android 16. From Android 17 it revokes Accessibility access from every app that is not a genuine accessibility tool, so screen time apps built on Accessibility stop working in that mode.
App timer
A daily limit you set on one app in Digital Wellbeing. When the time runs out, the app closes and its icon dims for the rest of the day. Timers reset at midnight, and you can delete or change one at any time, which is why they are easy to get round.
Bedtime mode
A Digital Wellbeing setting that turns the screen grayscale and quiets the phone at night, on a schedule or while charging. Samsung phones offer the same idea as Sleep mode, inside Modes and Routines.
Digital Wellbeing
Google's built-in screen time tools on Android, found in Settings. It shows time per app, unlocks and notifications, and offers app timers, Focus mode and Bedtime mode. Phone makers ship their own versions, so the menus differ between Pixel, Samsung and others.
Display over other apps
A special Android permission that lets an app draw on top of whatever you are using, such as a chat bubble or a floating timer. Doom Saver uses it so Grim can sit over the app you are scrolling.
Focus mode
A Digital Wellbeing feature that pauses the apps you choose, and their notifications, now or on a schedule. It has a Take a break button that lets you out for a while.
Pause Point
A Digital Wellbeing feature in Android 17 that makes you wait ten seconds before an app you have flagged opens, with prompts to do something else. Google announced it in May 2026. Its Pixel help page lists it for the Pixel 11 series on Android 17 and later.
More: Android Pause Point
Persistent notification
The notification that stays in your shade while an app works in the background. Android requires one for any app running a foreground service, which is why screen time apps that count live show one all the time.
Restricted settings
A safeguard in Android 13 and later. For apps installed from outside an app store, sensitive settings such as Accessibility are greyed out until you open the app's info page and choose Allow restricted settings.
Screen time
The time your screen is on and in use, usually broken down by app. On Android it comes from Digital Wellbeing. The per app figures matter more than the daily total, which also counts maps, music and calls.
Unlocks
How many times you unlocked your phone in a day, shown in Digital Wellbeing. It counts how often you reach for the phone, which can matter as much as how long you stay.
Usage Access
The Android permission that lets an app see which app is open and for how long, and nothing inside it. It cannot read your messages, see your screen or log what you type. Screen time apps, launchers and data monitors use it.
Habits, design and research
Brain rot
Oxford's Word of the Year for 2024, describing the supposed decline of a person's mental state from consuming trivial or unchallenging online content. It is slang, not a diagnosis.
Doomscrolling
Scrolling on through bad or upsetting news, usually on social media, long after it has stopped telling you anything useful. People now use it for any long scroll that leaves them feeling worse.
More: What is doomscrolling?
Infinite scroll
A feed that keeps loading more as you go, so it never reaches an end. It removes the natural stopping points that books, episodes and meals have, which is why stopping feels like a decision you never get asked to make.
Phubbing
Snubbing the person you are with in favour of your phone. The word joins phone and snubbing. Studies of couples link it to more conflict and lower relationship satisfaction.
Revenge bedtime procrastination
Staying up later than you meant to, often on your phone, to claw back free time after a day that had none. Researchers named bedtime procrastination in 2014. The revenge version spread online around 2020.
Variable reward
A reward that arrives unpredictably, like a good post among dull ones. Behavioural research finds that intermittent rewards keep a habit going longer than reliable ones, which is why refreshing a feed is so hard to stop.
Ways people cut back
App blocker
An app that stops you opening chosen apps, either for set hours or after a limit. Blockers suit people who want the decision taken away. Their weakness is that they can be switched off in the moment you most want to scroll.
Digital detox
A planned break from screens or social media, from an evening to several weeks. It shows you what your attention feels like without the feeds, but the habit tends to return unless something changes afterwards.
Digital minimalism
Cal Newport's term, from his 2019 book, for using a small number of tools that clearly serve what you value and dropping the rest. He suggests a 30 day declutter before adding anything back.
Dopamine detox
A popular name for a day or more away from fast, highly stimulating inputs. You cannot actually detox from dopamine, which your brain needs, but cutting back on variable rewards for a while does make slower activities feel less dull.
Friction
Any small delay or extra step between you and an app, such as a pause screen, a moved icon or a sign-out. In a 2023 study of the one sec app, people who met a short pause closed the app again on 36% of their attempts to open it.
More: Android Pause Point
Grayscale
A display setting that removes colour from the whole screen. In one study, students who switched to grayscale for eight to ten days used their phones about 38 minutes a day less.
Common questions
What is the difference between Usage Access and Accessibility?
Usage Access tells an app which app is open and for how long. Accessibility lets an app read what is on screen and act for you. A screen time app needs only the first to count your time. The full comparison covers when the second is worth it.
Where is Digital Wellbeing on my phone?
Open Settings and look for Digital Wellbeing and parental controls, or search Settings for "Digital Wellbeing". The name and place differ a little between Pixel, Samsung and other brands.
Is doomscrolling a medical condition?
No. Doomscrolling is an everyday word, not a diagnosis. Researchers measure it with questionnaires and link it to problematic social media use and distress.
Sources
- Google. Manage how you spend time on your Android phone with Digital Wellbeing, Android Help. support.google.com/android/answer/9346420
- Android Developers. UsageStatsManager reference. developer.android.com/reference/android/app/usage/UsageStatsManager
- Google Play Console Help. Use of the AccessibilityService API. support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/10964491
- Oxford University Press (2024). Brain rot named Oxford Word of the Year 2024. corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-named-oxford-word-of-the-year-2024
- Kroese, F. M., De Ridder, D. T. D., Evers, C. and Adriaanse, M. A. (2014). Bedtime procrastination: introducing a new area of procrastination. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00611
- Holte, A. J. and Ferraro, F. R. (2020). True colors: Grayscale setting reduces screen time in college students. The Social Science Journal. doi.org/10.1080/03623319.2020.1737461
- Grüning, D. J., Riedel, F. and Lorenz-Spreen, P. (2023). Directing smartphone use through the self-nudge app one sec. PNAS, 120(8). doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213114120
- Roberts, J. A. and David, M. E. (2016). My life has become a major distraction from my cell phone: Partner phubbing and relationship satisfaction among romantic partners. Computers in Human Behavior, 54. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.058
- Newport, C. (2019). Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Portfolio.
Doom Saver uses Usage Access and nothing more sensitive
Grim, a hooded knight, sits on top of the apps you choose with a running timer, and falls apart as the minutes add up. No Accessibility, no reading your screen. Free on Google Play.
Get it on Google Play