The Brick is not a standard screentime app. It is a bodily magnet that is the important thing to blocking sure apps in your cellphone.
My without end objective is to spend much less time on my iPhone to shield my psychological well being. Nonetheless, as a wellness author whose job is to maintain up with the newest well being tech developments and information, it may be robust for me to lower my screentime. Plus, iPhone and in-app screentime limits do not work for me, as I discover they’re straightforward to disable in seconds with only a few faucets.
Maybe the over 1 billion individuals who spent at the least three hours a day scrolling social media in 2020 can relate, particularly contemplating that the pandemic years supercharged our scrolling and created poor digital hygiene habits many people nonetheless have not recovered from.
But, since its launch in 2023, a palm-sized machine referred to as the Brick has gained recognition for its skill to stop individuals from endlessly scrolling on their telephones. It is a $59 sq. magnet “powered by an NFC [near-field communication] chip embedded within the machine,” TJ Driver, the Brick’s co-founder, tells CNET.
“As a substitute of counting on batteries or an exterior energy supply, it attracts energy straight out of your smartphone’s NFC reader once you faucet it,” he says. “That communicates along with your Brick app to lock (or unlock) your chosen apps, placing actual friction between you and your screentime.”
In different phrases, you need to bodily faucet your cellphone on the Brick to activate or deactivate the lock, so you’ll be able to’t merely faucet it away such as you would a screentime alert or app in your cellphone.
To search out out if the Brick is the important thing to slicing ties with doomscrolling, I spent months tapping my cellphone on the floor of that unassuming grey sq..
Tips on how to cement the Brick into your life
Your buy of the Brick consists of the bodily Brick and entry to the Brick app, no subscription obligatory. Contained in the field, there is a QR code that takes you to a webpage the place you’ll be able to obtain the app for iOS or Android.
For the iOS app, Apple requires an iPhone passcode, however you’ll be able to take away it after you utilize the Brick for the primary time. As for Android customers, the Brick may also direct you to your machine’s settings to permit the Brick app, alarms and reminders and notification entry.
One Brick can be utilized with a number of telephones, and a single cellphone can be utilized with a number of Bricks if you wish to maintain them in several areas, akin to at dwelling and at work.
The Brick magnetized to my fridge.
Tips on how to begin utilizing the Brick
When you create an account, you may have to grant the app entry to your cellphone’s screentime tracker. Then you definately create your first mode, title it and choose the apps and web sites you need to block or enable when enabled. You may create as much as 10 modes for various events, akin to work, learning, household dinner and private time.
All blocking data is saved domestically in your cellphone, and the Brick cannot see what you block.
If you need to begin or finish a Brick session, you merely press the “faucet or maintain to Brick” button on the app’s dwelling display screen after which bodily faucet your cellphone to the Brick. It’s also possible to maintain down the button for five seconds to “brick” your cellphone, however you may want the bodily Brick to “unbrick” it.
You may even create a schedule for when your modes are enabled. It’s going to begin at a selected time on chosen days and both conclude at a set time or once you faucet the Brick along with your machine.
The Brick app homescreen the place you’ll be able to faucet or maintain that button to “brick” your machine.
Customizable settings
Within the app, you’ll be able to view your Brick exercise and regulate settings, together with entry to 5 “emergency unbricks” that allow you to unbrick your cellphone in an emergency with out utilizing the bodily Brick. And sure, you solely get 5, so use them correctly.
In settings, you’ll be able to allow the next when your Brick is energetic:
- Strict mode: Stops you from ending a session by deleting the app
- Block app installs: Prevents putting in apps
- Block in-app purchases: Limits in-app purchases
- Block mature content material: Limits mature content material throughout apps and web sites
- Dwell actions: Exhibits an energetic Brick session timer on the high of your cellphone’s display screen
- Notifications: Enable notifications for teaching assist, check-ins and updates to your account or the app
Along with being magnetic for fridges, lockers and the like, the Brick has an anti-slip silicone backside that retains it in place on any floor.
There are numerous customizations you can also make to your Brick periods to stop doomscrolling.
My expertise, brick by brick
After establishing the Brick app, I positioned the bodily sq. on my fridge. My thought course of was that I are likely to doomscroll on my sofa, and my fridge is way sufficient away that I’ve to assume twice earlier than getting as much as stroll via my front room and kitchen to faucet the Brick.
I created one mode referred to as “Aware Mode,” which I programmed to dam all social media apps and web sites I have a tendency to make use of: TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
Not like screentime limits that solely work in your cellphone, I really like that the Brick requires an additional step, permitting you to get away out of your cellphone’s affect and take a second to ask your self: Do I actually need to spend extra time on my cellphone proper now?
When you will have the house to truly take into consideration all the different actions obtainable to you throughout your free time, all of a sudden gazing a display screen would not appear so interesting. Personally, I would somewhat spend time with family members, learn on my balcony, birdwatch at an area park or go for a stroll. From FOMO to NO-MO.
What it seems to be like once you attempt to entry one among your bricked apps.
My complete Brick time
As of proper now, my longest Brick session was 6 hours and 45 minutes. In complete, I’ve spent 35 hours with my cellphone bricked. That feels actually good.
Numbers apart, I genuinely consider that the Brick has helped me spend much less time on my cellphone. Social media is designed to be addictive, so having a bodily barrier just like the Brick helps break the cycle and remind you that there are extra essential issues in life than your units.
A weekly recap e mail I obtained from the Brick.
Is the Brick price $60?
The Brick is $59, however that does not embrace transport, which is able to fluctuate by location. Nonetheless, it’s HSA/FSA- eligible with a 30-day money-back assure.
For $12, Brick additionally sells a mount with adhesive backing so you’ll be able to safe it to any floor. A magnetic inside permits the Brick to snap in place. I would not advocate paying the additional price except you are planning to stay the Brick to the wall and do not need to use a Command strip.
Related units embrace the $39 Bloom Card and $49 Blok Card, however these aren’t magnetic and as a substitute slot in your pockets or pocket. There’s additionally the $27 Unpluq Tag, however that requires a premium subscription beginning at $35 for six months.
For individuals who are particularly thrifty, you should buy your personal NFC tags ($13 for a 50-pack) or print a QR code. Then use the free, open-source Foqos app to dam apps and web sites.
All that mentioned, whereas I want the Brick had been extra reasonably priced, I do like it and assume it is price it in comparison with a wallet-sized card or tag that requires a subscription. I like having it magnetized to my fridge and respect all of the totally different customization choices obtainable within the app.
The Brick can simply slot in your palm, however has the facility to vary how you utilize your cellphone.
My closing ideas
I discovered the Brick to be thoughtfully designed, and it is a useful reminder that if you wish to get away out of your cellphone, you typically should bodily transfer away from it to clear your head. This leaves room for therefore many potentialities in how you need to use your free time.
Despite the fact that I nonetheless take pleasure in utilizing the Brick, I discover that I am even beginning to spend much less time doomscrolling with out it. It is like all I wanted was a sq. grey magnet to interrupt the screentime spell I used to be underneath. Who would’ve guessed? Definitely not me, particularly whereas I used to be extra targeted on the pictures and movies that endlessly appeared proper earlier than my eyes.
