Realtime Screen Time: The Origin Story

• written by Jonida Gjolli
Realtime Screen Time: The Origin Story

It all began with a big fight that nearly brought us to the brink of filing for divorce.

I, Jonida, had a life-threatening pregnancy with more than 10 hospitalisations and an emergency C-section, giving birth prematurely.

After giving birth to my son, I had Postpartum depression and I thought I could find comfort on social media, trying to escape my reality. Days blurred into endless nights as I doom scrolled, sinking deeper into my depression. My addiction to the digital world consumed me. I was scrolling through feeds while feeding my newborn, while playing with my kids, even during our precious moments watching a movie with my husband. Quality time with my family had become a distant memory.

When my husband confronted me about my social media addiction, I felt attacked and didn’t accept it was a problem. We ended up having one of the biggest fights in our lives, which made me open my eyes and rethink my priorities.

As a doctor trained to always find the root of the problem and not only treating the symptoms. I tried find the origin of my addiction. Drawing upon my psychology studies from university, I began to explore how I could break free from this debilitating habit.

The problem was not having a tool that showed me my app usage in realtime.

I thought if Perjan, my husband could develop an app that showed app usage in realtime, I could be more aware of my time spent on social media. If it was too much I would try to reduce it, so that I could be more present for my family and have more quality time with my kids and husband.

Perjan loved the idea and worked 4 straight days to come with the initial rudimentary app, which I loved. We tested and refined the idea together before putting it on the App Store.

You can download the app here: Download Now for iOS

After only two weeks of using the app, my life started to change. I reduced my social media time by 26%. I started to have more me time, spend more quality time with my kids, going out on playdates with other moms and having date nights with my husband. I showed the app to the other moms and they loved it as well.

Helping others win back their time and create precious memories with their loved ones is a driving force for us every day. The app that had emerged from the depths of our struggles became a lifeline, a tool to reclaim the irreplaceable joys of life.

RTST: Reclaiming Time, Saving Togetherness—it became more than an app; it became our mission, a beacon of hope for those lost in the digital abyss.

With love and determination,
J & P

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