I spend too much time on my phone. And while a good chunk of that is work-related, I can’t blame it all on the job. I’m a doomscroller, whiling away far too much time reading up on things that will annoy right about the time I should be putting the phone to one side to go to sleep.
I have tried different things to make my phone less appealing or accessible. Greyscale the screen? It lasted a couple of days before I realised I couldn’t find any of the apps I needed. That meant I was actually spending more time on my phone rather than less, because it took me twice as long to find what I wanted.
Time limits? Tried that too. They only work if you don’t know the code to bypass it. Ditto for “sleep mode” on apps.
I’m not alone in this. Look around you next time you are out. If people aren’t posing for Instagram photos, they have their necks craned over their phones to see what else they are missing out on. The only problem is we are missing out on what is going on around us as a result.
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Brick is a product that aims to help with that.
“Do more of what matters,” it promises. When I first saw the device, I thought it was an actual button that would lock out your phone. It is almost a shame it is not. Imagine the fun you could have with it, when you are trying to talk to someone who insists on scrolling Instagram mid-conversation. One tap of a button and you could solve the world’s problems.
[ Always on your phone? Five ways to reduce your screentimeOpens in new window ]
Instead, Brick is a small grey NFC tag that will trigger a focus mode on your phone, locking out apps or allowing them based on what you choose. The accompanying app does all the work via your device’s screen-time settings.
All you need to do is open the app, tap on the “Brick Device” button and tap your phone to the Brick tag. The timer starts and you can see how much time you have spent away from the apps that suck up your time and energy. When you want to end the blackout, you tap “Unbrick device” and scan the tag again.
You have full control over those apps, by the way; Brick is not choosing for you. On set-up, you are asked to choose one to three apps that you feel take up too much of your time.
After that you can add entire categories of apps – social media, for example – and customise it for your needs.
You can set up different modes too, such as one that will allow work-related apps while blocking games and entertainment, or one that blocks work apps after the day has ended.
It limits the number of apps you can add to 50. It was easier for me to choose which apps I wanted to allow rather than to limit the ones I didn’t. And one tag can be used by multiple people, each with their own accounts.
But why would you need to pay for such a device when smartphones already have screen-time restrictions and digital wellbeing measures?
Very simply: Brick requires more thought. The problem with screen-time settings is that you inevitably set them yourself and you know what the code is. It is too easy to bypass.
[ Has social media finally peaked? The rise of AI and decline of screen timeOpens in new window ]
Brick, on the other hand, can be left in another room so that unlocking your phone requires the effort of getting up and finding the Brick. It was particularly useful for those early morning wake-ups. When faced with that choice at 2am, the effort of getting up just to check Instagram was too much. The phone went away.
You can also set it on a schedule, so a certain mode kicks in when your free time is supposed to begin. You can’t schedule the end of the mode, however, so be careful of how you use that particular feature.
With that in mind, it helps to have more than one of these devices. Inevitably, you will misplace the original Brick at least once, or have a schedule kick in while you are away from home, and since you (mostly) can’t unlock the apps without the Brick, you might find yourself in a bit of a jam.
I say mostly because there is an emergency brake. When you install the app, you get five emergency unlocks; in other words, if you lose or forget the Brick, you can use one of these emergency unlocks to get access to your apps. But there are only five, and when they are gone, that is it.
Unless you use emergency measure number two: delete the Brick app. That will unlock your phone, although the emergency unbrick count is connected to your account rather than your phone. If you reinstall Brick, and use the same account, the counter doesn’t reset to five.
If, in some fit of commitment to the cause, you have enabled Brick’s “strict” mode, though, you can’t delete the app. The apps will remain locked until you can unearth the device and scan the tag.
The test was checking my screen time. Does Brick work? For the week I was using it, my screen time dropped by an average of almost half every day. If that is not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is.
Good
It works. Or at least it did for me. At a certain time, my phone was scheduled to lock out some time-sucking apps, and the effort of having to leave the room and get the tag was enough to make me reconsider.
Schedules are also useful, so you don’t have to remember to brick the phone.
Bad
It isn’t strictly necessary if you use – and stick to – the screen-time settings. You can delete the app to unlock it if you haven’t enabled strict mode.
Everything else
It is magnetic. Stick it to the fridge, your desk, the kitchen extractor fan; in fact anywhere that you can access it easily throughout the day.
Verdict
A simple device but effective.
