Digital wellbeing and iPhone Screen Time glossary

Short, factual definitions for the terms used in Dia Key’s resources. Each entry distinguishes Apple platform language from broader wellbeing language and links to a deeper guide or original source.

App Blocking

App blocking is the practice of creating a boundary around selected apps or websites so opening them is less automatic.

Screen Time

Screen Time is Apple’s collection of tools for viewing app and website activity and setting boundaries such as App Limits and Downtime.

Digital Wellbeing

Digital wellbeing is a broad term for using technology in ways that support a person’s goals, relationships, health, and attention.

Doomscrolling

Doomscrolling is repetitive, hard-to-stop consumption of distressing or negative online content.

Habit Loop

A habit loop describes the relationship between a cue, a familiar response, and an outcome or reward.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is commonly used to describe deliberate awareness of present experience without immediately reacting to it.

FamilyControls

FamilyControls is an Apple framework used with Screen Time technologies for authorized app and website management experiences.

App Shield

An app shield is a screen or restriction state that can make selected content unavailable under an Apple Screen Time-based configuration.

Screen Time API

Screen Time API is a common umbrella phrase for Apple technologies including FamilyControls, Managed Settings, and Device Activity.