Screen time is a number, but digital wellbeing is a set of habits. The site’s two calculators split that difference cleanly. The screen time calculator is the ledger: it adds hours by device, weights nighttime use, and produces an impact score with break suggestions. The digital wellbeing calculator is the habit check: it scores five behavior areas — screen time, breaks, night mode, mindful use, and notifications — into a single 0 to 100 score. Each page describes the other as the place to go for the missing half.
What each calculator does
The screen time calculator takes an age group, primary use, and hours for computer or laptop, smartphone or tablet, and TV or gaming, plus the portion of that total that happens within two hours of bedtime. Total screen time is the direct sum of the three device categories; the impact score weights computer hours by 1.0, smartphone hours by 1.2, TV or gaming hours by 0.8, and adds nighttime hours at 1.5 times. It labels the score low at 50 or below and moderate above, and gives age-group recommendations — for example, adults over 8 total hours are prompted toward 6 to 8. It also builds a break schedule including the 20-20-20 rule for longer days.
The digital wellbeing calculator takes daily screen minutes, break frequency, night mode usage, mindful device minutes, and notification level. Screen time earns up to 30 points (2 hours or less is best), breaks up to 20, night mode up to 20, mindful use up to 15, and notifications up to 15. The total is rounded for display and labeled Excellent, Good, Fair, or Needs Improvement. The calculator is intentionally simple: it does not read app data, measure sleep, or diagnose anything.
Side-by-side
| Screen Time calculator | Digital Wellbeing calculator | |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | How much time, by device and timing? | How protective are the habits around that time? |
| Inputs | Age group, primary use, device hours, nighttime hours | Screen minutes, break frequency, night mode, mindful minutes, notification level |
| Score | Weighted impact score, low or moderate label | 0–100 habit score with level label |
| Extra outputs | Device breakdown, break schedule, 20-20-20 reminders, age-based targets | Component breakdown and targeted improvement prompts |
| Strength | Precise accounting of hours and evening use | Captures breaks, evening settings, and interruption pressure |
| Best for | Audits, family discussions, evening-use review | Comparing habit quality and tracking improvement |
When to use which
Use the screen time calculator when the question is where the time goes: which device dominates, how much of the day it adds up to, and what is happening in the two hours before bed. Because it separates devices, it also separates remedies — if the phone is the biggest category, app limits and charging outside the bedroom help; if TV or gaming dominates, episode limits and scheduled breaks do.
Use the digital wellbeing calculator when a raw hour count is too blunt: six hours of focused work with breaks and a quiet phone is not the same pattern as six hours of fragmented notifications and late-night scrolling. Its component rows show which lever is weakest — breaks, evening settings, intention, or interruptions — and that is where you start.
The tools are genuinely complementary. Run the screen time calculator to see the ledger, then the digital wellbeing calculator to see the habits, then re-run after a change. Both pages warn against gaming the numbers: do not double-count hours, do not enter mindful minutes that are actually passive scrolling, and do not treat either score as a diagnosis of eye strain, sleep trouble, anxiety, or addiction. Persistent symptoms deserve professional guidance.