Brick - phone addiction

[furusato]

Anyone use Brick to help with phone overuse?

https://getbrick.com/

it’s a physical device that locks different apps on your phone. Chasing me around Instagram 😂

Wondering if it’s an expensive gimmick or helps with discipline?

I’ve been looking at this for months and can’t decide either!

Yeah, my son (23) he got one and thought it was really useful.

I’ve just ordered one but haven’t set it up yet. Hoping it might stop me doomscrolling - hopefully I haven’t just been suckered in by the clever marketing!

Younger guy at work has one on his desk and he ‘bricks’ his phone when he sits down to work, then ‘unbricks’ for break/lunchtime. Seems to work well for him (he’d had a warning for phone use!) and I’ve noticed a couple of others in his team also seem to use it.

I saw this but while the angel on my shoulder would really like it, the devil would just remove it and I'd doomscroll away.

I find deleting apps useful. I also used a website blocker for a while (which is how I know I'd just remove the brick)

You can do this yourself, for a lot less money.

There's an app called Foqus for iPhone and then one called Switchly for Android. If you combine that with a/some NFC tags (available on Amazon for about a fiver for 50).

I am finding it works quite well so far. I have set a "temporary off" toggle which I am using too much. The total off switch is in the shed and I haven't used that yet. I think I probably need to fiddle round with the settings and then move the temporary off switch somewhere less convenient - at the moment it's portable, I probably should have stuck it to the fridge.

Anyway, it's very easy to use the app, and you can customise what the NFCs do. The key thing is to switch Switchly so you can only make changes with NFCs, after you've set the NFCs up. The NFCs are reprogrammable and it took me about 10 minutes to set mine up, but I haven't optimised it yet.

Just to add, I ended up doing this because realised I had been looking at Brick for ages but had kept not buying it because the price wasn't in "take a punt and see if it's useful" territory. Hence my googling and discovering the above, which at £6 was in that territory.

I have one and find it useful, better than Focus apps. Somehow the physical act of blocking and unblocking is important psychologically to me.

I use the Freedom app, which you can use to create block lists, set time off phone etc. I like it as it has a 5 minute break option. So for example, if I'm selling something on Vinted and passing a post office, I can quickly unblock it and get the qr code. Coming off Vinted once my current are done though as I find that a massive time waster.
I don’t know if there’s similar on Brick?
I’m all for limiting screen time but sometimes there are just practicalities to observe!

*current items!!

Wow @Ineffable23I am down a rabbit hole of NFC tags now! You expressed my hesitation with brick perfectly - is not priced in the ‘give it a go range’. Just ordered some nfc tags to have a go with those! 😁

I think my son got it on the basis that you can return it if you don't like it

I have a brick and it works really well, better for me than the apps which I had tried previously. Somehow having to go to another room to unbrick makes a big difference and it’s very easy to use.

I’m in the same boat, being chased around by it on instagram and have been thinking of it for a while. I think it would be very good for WFH. Less good for in the office though (assuming it was on the fridge at home) as I would still like to be able to scroll on commute but not at work. I had previously heard of the NFC tag idea but thought it sounds a bit complicated/technical!!

I think lobbing your phone into a river is a good strategy

I'm trying to do something on my phone is near me whether I'm at work or home. I just walk upstairs and put it there.

What about getting an actual brick phone, where all you can do is call and text? That way, if you want to have a look at social media (which is fine in small doses), you have to make a physical effort to go and do so at a desktop computer. It feels much more deliberate, and you won't sit there for hours. You'll have a glance at what's new, and then you'll carry on with the rest of your day.

I did that when I was at uni and it worked a treat (but things were nowhere near as bad as they are now, with the choice of apps etc).

I have one called Padlock which works the same way - have to confess I’m not very good at using it but DD15 has it installed on her phone and uses it when she needs to focus on revision. When I do use it, it really does work well - the device is upstairs so if I want to unlock I have to move, which is a more powerful disincentive than being able to override the in-built restrictions on my phone.

I’m trying , finding it helpful so far, keep it in DHs home office upstairs so that he is a witness to any backsliding!

Like a pp, I don't have SM apps installed on my phone. I only have them on my tablet. So, going looking for my tablet to scroll is more intentional and I definitely do get sucked in but overall time spent is less. Mumsnet logged in through the chrome app on my phone is another enigma.

I have thought about disabling that too and carrying around a pen and paper for all the moments where 'I check this or that' and end up scrolling on Mumsnet instead!

I do find it good for avoiding double screening and then annoying everyone by asking what just happened. I “ brick” my phone when a TV show starts and I don’t go upstairs to unlock it cos I’m comfortable on the sofa usually with the cat lap.

@Ineffable23just got my tag in the post and have set up my first profile on Foqos! Have to use my 10 minute break to pop onto Monday to let you know this ha ha!

Everyone else - it is really easy to do and I have high hopes of the physical barrier of having to find the tag stuck to my kitchen wall …