When this yr began, I knew I needed to make drastic modifications … as a result of my cellphone had taken over my life.
Display time had skyrocketed. Humor circled round TikTok reactions. I discovered myself scrolling by means of waves of reports horrors and memes earlier than I used to be totally awake every day.
Enter the Brick, which has emerged because the go-to app for folks trying to reset their relationships with their telephones.
“Bricking” your cellphone has now turn out to be a verb for folks to share the information that they’re logging off and to inform others. I really realized about “bricking” and “unbricking” myself by means of the loud declarations of different writers and influencers.
I used to be skeptical at first about whether or not an app blocker that prices over $50 may very well be value it. However I had tried free methods of deleting social media apps and blocking them from my cellphone by means of options like Apple’s Display Time or Android Digital Wellbeing, and so they hadn’t labored as a result of they’re simple to bypass.
Nevertheless, the Brick is somewhat sq. gadget that pairs with an app you obtain in your cellphone by means of a QR code. When you join your cellphone to your Brick, you may choose which apps you must block and for which hours of the day. Then, the actual take a look at begins. You faucet the bodily Brick gadget together with your cellphone to activate its app-blocking options — you must contact the Brick once more if you wish to regain entry to your blocked apps.
I used to be struck by how onerous it was to depart the home for a complete day with a bricked cellphone. I even delayed utilizing it at first due to this anxiousness, which solely strengthened my resolve that I in all probability wanted to undergo with this experiment.
So, after a day of an excessive amount of scrolling, I put myself to the take a look at and put my Brick on my fridge. Now, I must stand up from the sofa or get again house from work if I wished to entry that tantalizing Reddit submit.
I’m completely satisfied to report that after greater than a month of use, my mind feels totally different. I anticipated the strict enforcement of a Brick to vary me — however even I used to be stunned by how a lot it did.
What You Ought to Know Earlier than You Strive A Brick
The Brick, obtainable for iOS and Android, allows you to set modes for “deep work” and “household time” hours, so bricking routinely occurs throughout the pure rhythm of your day. It additionally retains a working tally of what number of hours you have got been bricked every day, and on common, presumably to encourage you to remain sturdy and go somewhat longer with out unbricking.
In the event you neglect to make use of the Brick in your cellphone in your rush out the door, you may as well Brick your gadget by urgent the Brick icon on the app’s homepage from the place you might be, however you’ll nonetheless want to return to the place your precise Brick is to unlock what you need to unlock.
What I Cherished
The primary week I used it, I used to be stunned and embarrassed by how usually my fingers would routinely faucet the social media apps my Brick blocked me from accessing. My Brick bouncer would gently scold me each time I attempted to instinctively examine Instagram or TikTok.
The app provides you 5 “emergency” unbricking workarounds if you really want to entry an app you have got blocked and also you’re not close to your Brick gadget, however I’ve but to make use of one. Needing to make use of “emergency” unbricking to make an Instagram story in regards to the Galentine’s celebration I attended actually put into perspective what precisely I used to be doing with my one treasured life.
The Brick challenged my perception that real-time social media suggestions was obligatory to remain related with my associates or to be good at my job. In my view, this pressured reflection is the Brick’s greatest profit. I’ve missed a couple of direct messages from my associates, I’m not seeing as many humorous TikTok memes anymore, and I’m out of the loop on some social media traits, however I really feel extra in charge of what I’m consuming. On the very least, I’m paying extra consideration to how I spend my time on my cellphone.
What I Assume May Be Higher — And Why I’m Sticking With My Brick
The Brick prices round $59 dollars for one gadget. Although I discover this little plastic field to be prohibitively costly for what it’s, I like that multiple particular person can use the identical Brick, so you can theoretically get your roommate or accomplice to separate the prices, too. I additionally like that after you purchase it, you don’t have to pay a subscription price to maintain utilizing it, not like many different apps.
Nevertheless, bricking your self isn’t going to rework you fully.
Catherine Pearlman, a licensed scientific social employee and writer of “First Telephone: A Baby’s Information to Digital Accountability, Security, and Etiquette,” stated the Brick is “a beautiful gadget,” however can’t be a long-term answer to countless social media scrolling by itself.
“When you’re house [where your Brick is], the impulse nonetheless exists,” she instructed me. “So it doesn’t really educate you find out how to work by means of that impulse to say…‘How do I actually need to spend my time? How do I work by means of this emotion that I’m making an attempt to keep away from by scrolling?’”
Answering these questions is a much bigger journey solely you may reply. For Pearlman, it meant discovering different methods to make use of her screen-free time.
“I knew I wasn’t going to cease utilizing my cellphone, however I wished to have another,” she stated for instance. “After which when the newspapers obtained too upsetting, I went to Kindle. So now I simply learn books in my Kindle, and I learn eight books in January.”
If you wish to get severe about blocking social media not simply in your cellphone however in your laptop as effectively (which your Brick can not entry), Pearlman prompt the free web site blocker Cold Turkey.
As for me, I’m persevering with to brick myself within the evenings, in order that I can study a brand new screen-free interest of crochet. Simply this previous week, my cellphone display screen time dropped 62% in comparison with the week earlier than. Making loops of crochet rows with my palms feels extra satisfying than the loops of TikToks I watched every evening, however I don’t suppose I’d have caught with my new interest with out the Brick’s admonishments.
I’ve gone from my excessive of 9 hours of every day display screen time to a extra cheap 5 or 6 hours throughout a workday. I nonetheless have lapses the place I’ll go an evening with out Bricking, however I really feel a lot calmer after I do. When my head isn’t cluttered with the pulls of social media notifications and engaging Reels, I’ve time to determine what I actually need to do. And that’s a present that I feel is value protecting.
