LOCK YOUR SCREEN DOWNLOAD

Download rvice and lock-session-bedtime.timer.

The following method should work on terminal sessions and graphical sessions (including Plasma and GNOME) on any system managed by systemd (almost all modern Linux distributions.) You may want to bookmark this article for future reference. You can remove or modify the scheduled time in the file later to undo or change the behavior.

Log out and back in again (or restart your Mac) from the Apple menu in the top left corner.

You can use drag-and-drop from the Downloads folder or copy-and-paste.

Move the downloaded file into that folder.

Open the LaunchAgents folder inside your Library folder (or create it if it doesn’t exist.).

If you don’t see Library in the menu, select Go To Folder, and type ~/Library and press Enter. Expand the Go menu in the top bar and select Library. Take care not to make any other changes to the file. Modify the hour and minutes fields to set your own log-out time.

Right-click on the downloaded file and choose Open With: Other: TextEdit.

LOCK YOUR SCREEN HOW TO

Here are instructions for how to install a launchd service that’ll log you out at 23:45 every night. MacOS schedules tasks through the launchd service manager. In lieu of a better built-in option, I needed to create a custom scheduled task. This is a more complex system where you can carve out exceptions for certain apps and micro-manage everything. Again, you can get the instructions for that from Apple. MacOS has a second built-in option called downtime. It’s to easy to just click Cancel and be done with it. However, this will open a dismissable dialog with a ten-minute countdown at the time you schedule it to sleep. You can get the setup instructions from Apple.

LOCK YOUR SCREEN MAC

MacOSĪpple provides a built-in option that will put your Mac to sleep on a schedule. The task will be called lock-session-bedtime. You’re all set up! You can change the scheduled time or remove the task from inside the Task Scheduler.

Chose the downloaded file and click OK.

Expand the Action menu in the menu bar and select Import task.

Open the Task Scheduler program (use the search field in the Start Menu to find it.).

Modify the hour and minutes in the StartBoundary to set your own log-out time (the date just needs to be any date in the past.) Take care not to make any other changes to the file.

Right-click on the downloaded file and choose Edit.

LOCK YOUR SCREEN WINDOWS

Task scheduling in Windows isn’t something most users will be familiar with but I’ll walk you through it. You can set up screen locking on a schedule using Windows’ built-in tools, however. However, you can’t apply them to yourself (as a full-privilege administrative user.) There are over a dozen third-party programs for limiting screen time, but most of these are over-complicated and expensive subscription services. Microsoft offers parental control features for Windows for managing the time spent on the computer.

You can follow the optional instruction step to set a different lock-time. īy default, these instructions will lock your computer at 23:45. What follows are instructions for how to set up scheduled screen locking for Windows 10, MacOS, and Linux (systemd). However, I feel slightly guilty about it and I more often do the adult thing and go to bed instead. However, it’s a very strong and abrupt indicator to my brain that “hey, it’s late - go to bed!” I can admit failure and log back in. Locking the screen doesn’t prevent me from logging back in and continuing my work. I just wanted the screen to abruptly force me back to the login screen and out of whatever activity I’m doing. I don’t want it power down or lose any ongoing work. I wanted my computer to kick me out of my gaming, programming, writing, or whatever activity I’m doing. However, computers are lagging behind the trend and don’t offer the right tools. It’s not a magic solution but its something that can be helpful. These features are - among other things - designed to help you wind down at night and help you manage time and get enough sleep.

LOCK YOUR SCREEN ANDROID

IOS and Android have had some sort of “digital well-being” and time-management for about two years. Here's how to get your computer to lock the screen at bedtime and help any of you developer-types maintain a more consistent bedtime. However, this bad habit makes it hard to get enough hours of sleep something that’s not too good for the human body. I get so into things that I lose track of time. Admittedly, this is usually the time when I’m the most productive.

I’m terrible at maintaining a consistent bedtime and often stay up on the computer late into the night.

Lock your screen