For the past couple years, tech companies Apple, Google and even Facebook have been doing something seemingly against their interests: Encouraging us to stop using them.
On Monday, Microsoft joined those companies by encouraging business people to be more mindful of their time too. The new features, built into the company’s Office 365 business productivity service for Windows PCs, Macs and mobile devices, tracks how people use their computers and then displays that information on a dashboard.
For example, Microsoft’s software will soon start showing people how often they focused on a task and for how long. And it will also cheer them on if they successfully disconnected after work. You can even set goals for how often you have quiet days, Microsoft said.
The new features, announced at the company’s Build developer conference in Seattle, are the latest in a growing trend of tech companies aiming to make us feel better about using their devices and services. They’re doing this by encouraging us to be more mindful about how much of our lives get taken up by technology in the first place.
These features are part of a broader refinement to Microsoft’s Office 365 business software. The suite, which includes access to the company’s popular Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook apps, is used by 180 million people.
