Focus Mode: A feature that has potential to cultivate mental health

A few weeks ago, while waiting to view the WWDC keynote, I wrote about some things I was hoping for from Apple’s yearly event. One of the things I hoped for, in watchOS, “...a focus on mental health,” ended up in iOS in the form of; Focus Mode. I’m claiming here that the Focus Mode feature has potential to improve ones mental health as, if set up and followed with fidelity, provides iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS users the opportunity to be fully present when initiating a Focus. I can easily imagine setting up Shortcuts to manually initiate different Focus modes via my Series 6 Apple Watch or set up automations or a combination of the two.

There have been some very informative pieces written about how the Focus feature works as well as very interesting pieces that hint at its implications for contextualizing computing. Reading both of these articles got me in that “I want to go to there” frame of mind. The idea of setting up a “Work” Focus that includes the creation of a Home Screen with only apps that are “Work” centric while customizing specific people and notifications that can breakthrough that wall; sign me up!

The public betas for iOS, watchOS, and iPadOS are all right around the corner, coming very soon. I look forward to setting up and trying out some Focus Modes. Right now, without access to this feature, I’m imagining setting up at least 3 Focus modes; “Personal,” “Work,” and “Writing.” As I gain access to the public betas and start to play around with Focus mode, look here for my first impressions which will include how I feel the feature is impacting my mental health.