This $50 gadget bricked my iPhone and altered my relationship with it (for the better)

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As every aspect of our working and social life is digitized, screen addiction has become less an exception to our way of living and more a widely accepted characteristic of it. I see this most commonly when I ask my friends, family, and coworkers how many hours a day they spend on their phones. The answers vary from three to eight hours. 

I average around four hours of my day on my phone, checking emails, responding to texts, scrolling social media, and checking the weather. That’s four hours I could be spending reading a book, writing an article, learning how to predict the weather, calling a loved one, and doing anything besides checking the time suck and brain rot that is social media sites and messaging apps. 

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Every October, as average daylight dwindles and my energy levels deplete, this feeling of learned helplessness at the hands of technology comes to a head. I have no energy to get up from my bed. It takes me a while to build the courage to transit to the gym. What do I do instead? I sit on my bed and I scroll. 

I scroll through financial advice posts telling me that I should be investing way more in the market than I already am, I scroll through engagements and weddings my former classmates are celebrating, I scroll through reactionary content strangers post on the internet for clicks, and I scroll through some of the most sinister news my eyes can see and my brain can fathom. All this content is jumbled together, and I let it wash over me like I’m lying on the sands of a pathetic ocean. 

Once I reach this point, I delete my social media apps. I try to put my phone in another room while I work, eat, and do chores around the house. I create a stricter schedule and force myself to leave the house more. Then, a week or two later, once I’ve returned to my natural, stable, ripen, not rotten, brain, I redownload all these apps. Perhaps it’s just a few weeks or months, but the cycle continues.

Also: 6 small steps I take to break my phone addiction – and you can too 

I have tried the time limits, the app blockers, and using social media on a browser instead of the app itself. So this October, I tried something new. I had seen coverage of the company Brick and its miracle-working device<!–> that effectively locks users out of their high-demand apps. People had claimed the minimalistic, magnetic cube gave them their time back. I’ll be the judge of that, I thought to myself. 

The folks at Brick sent me a device, which I immediately began testing upon reception and have been for the past few weeks. TL:DR? This device has done numbers on my relationship with my most addictive apps. Here’s how.

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How it works 

Brick is a gray, magnetic square with a compatible app. Upon downloading the app, a person selects the apps they want to disable once their phone is bricked. Brick utilizes NFC technology, which is also found in contactless payments, digital wallets like Apple Pay, and secure access controls, such as digital keycards used to gain entry into buildings, to enable and disable app use. Tapping the brick, or “bricking,” blocks the use of these apps until the phone is tapped once again and “unbricked.”

Also: 6 small steps I took to break my phone addiction – and you can too

You can set up schedules to block apps during specific times of the day and modes to block certain kinds of apps. I began testing the product by creating a mode that blocks my most-used apps, namely Messages, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, and LinkedIn. 

Brick gives you five free “unbricks” you can use in an emergency, when you aren’t near the physical Brick. 

My experience ‘Bricking’ my iPhone

I haven’t set up a schedule yet, because I’m satisfied bricking my device upon my own volition and unbricking when I need to check messages or posts from friends. Bricking the device when I recognize my own need for distance from my phone felt like an easy first step at curbing my phone addiction. A schedule felt too stringent. I can see the scheduling feature becoming handier once I’ve spent several weeks bricking my phone and developed less of a reliance on regularly checking it, of which I’m still working on. 

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My phone usage is the worst (and makes me feel the worst) while I’m at home. Scrolling through social media between subway stops or checking messages occasionally at the office isn’t my issue. It’s the hours I spend wasting once I get home from a busy day of work, or the time I spend wasting away on the weekends that I could be dedicating to hobbies. 

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So that’s where I primarily use the Brick. My roommates, however, have used the Brick before reading at the park, and they reported that it helped them focus longer. One Monday night, I bricked my phone and then journal for 90 minutes, completely and absolutely undisturbed. 

I love bricking my phone before bedtime, which, in the words of my roommate, feels like “shutting the home computer down at the end of the night.” Every so often, I’ll be lying in bed and remembering I want to check an app or send a text. 

Doing so would force me out of my bed, down a long hallway, and into the kitchen to unbrick my phone. It made me reconsider my phone usage decisions. 

In the morning, after waking, I’ll go to my kitchen, where my Brick is stuck on the fridge, and unbrick my phone. This gives me around an hour before work, during which I can catch up on messages and the daily happenings. 

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Then, once I begin work, I brick my phone again. After at least an hour of zero distractions, I’ll reward myself with a quick unbrick. I check my messages or scroll for a few minutes and rebrick. It’s like the Pomodoro effect, but for phone addiction. 

Working without the constant pings or easy access to social media reminds me of the productivity I would have while doing my homework on an airplane before Wi-Fi became available – that undeterred, distraction-free kind of productivity and clearheadedness that comes with disconnection from the outside world.  

Why it works for me

Brick makes access to my most-used apps a privilege I feel like I must earn through patience, rather than something I can take for granted whenever I’d like. It also reminds me that the number of times I check my phone to see if someone has reached out is disproportionate to the number of notifications I receive per hour. In short, there is no need for me to be checking it as often as I am. 

Unlike a screen time notification or limit, which is enabled once someone reaches their daily app limit, Brick positively reinforces my time spent without my apps. A widget pops up once you brick your device, displaying a timer showing how long you’ve been offline since bricking. 

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It directly contrasts the negative reinforcement that is the “You’ve reached your daily Instagram limit” notifications I receive through Screen Time. In the app, you can also see how much time you’ve spent bricking each day. All these features and touches help me build the case for myself that I can actually go without these apps for prolonged periods. 

What I’d like to see improved

You don’t need to brick your device to initiate a schedule, say at 9 a.m., once you’ve started work. But you will need your Brick on hand at 5 p.m., when you want to unbrick your device. This is irritating if you’re not in the same location as your Brick once the clock strikes 5 p.m., but there’s a workaround, which a friend let me in on. 

If you want to unbrick your phone after the allotted brick time is over in your schedule, my friend recommended creating another schedule immediately after your first schedule ends, and then unbricking a random app. This enables the scheduling feature and unbricks the desired apps without requiring the physical device.

My friend also mentioned how Brick didn’t register his change in time zones when he was traveling, something he’d like Brick to improve. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

I highly recommend Brick<!–> if you struggle with regularly checking your phone or wasting time on social media. During the first full week I used it, my screen time decreased by 7%. Its positive reinforcements, rather than admonishments when you’ve gone over your allotted screen time, incrementally build the case that you can, indeed, go without these apps. 

I’d recommend this most to people looking for a productivity boost – whether that’s one you’re seeking out on or off the job. After bricking my phone one night, I decided to go on a not-so-addictive but still-distracting app before bed. I watched one YouTube video for around two minutes, until I realized I could be reading my book instead. I’m not sure if I would have made that choice without Brick. 

I know, $55 is a high price to pay for self-control. However, from my experience with the device, it is worth it for the quality of life upgrade and the long-desired autonomy from my devices that I’ve regained.