Reducing Screen Time with Brick
Starting in December, Brick started targeting me on Instagram for its product, designed to help people cut back on mindlessly scrolling on their phone. At first, I didn’t think anything of it because we all get targeted for all kinds of stuff every day and my life was still wonky from having a 2 month old anyway. However, by January, I couldn’t help but notice that I was still being targeted for it, which I took as a sign that I needed to actually look into my screen time usage. I started to notice the little moments where I was picking up my phone, even for 30 seconds, instead of just waiting for the bottle to warm up, instead of just watching my son eat his toast in silence, instead of doing my notes during the few minutes I have between sessions. I decided to make 2026 my journey to cut back on screen time and I ordered the Brick. And let me tell you - I AM OBSESSED.
If you’re not aware of what a Brick is, it’s this little square device with a magnet on the back (I keep mine stuck on my fridge) that you can tap your phone on, like when you’re using Apple Wallet at a store, that shuts off apps that you want blocked. You can do this one of two ways - by selecting which apps you want to allow while your phone is bricked, or by selecting which apps you want blocked when your phone is bricked. Once your phone is bricked (either by tapping your phone on the Brick or by bricking via the app), the only way to unbrick is to physically get up and tap your phone on the Brick, so it takes actual effort to do so.
Because I have so many apps on my phone, I have decided to select which apps I want to allow, since there are fewer of those than the apps I want blocked. I have one setting for when I’m working, allowing my work-related apps and a few others while blocking everything else, and one setting for family time, where my work apps are blocked, along with pretty much everything else that is unrelated to spending time with my family.
I’ve been using this for about a month now, and here are some of the changes I’ve noticed:
I picked up my phone mindlessly way more often than I realized, and I lost a lot of time each day looking at different apps, mainly social media. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve just stood, staring out a window, over the past month because my phone was bricked so I wasn’t scrolling during a few minutes of downtime. I’ve also been reading more, but I can’t tell you how much more because my GoodReads app is blocked while my phone is bricked currently, but you can take my word for it.
At this point, I’m not automatically reaching for my phone anymore. For the first few weeks I was using the Brick, I’d reach for my phone and it would tell me I turned whatever app I had clicked on off and to get “back to living.” Now, I’m not even reaching for it anymore (I even had to go click on Instagram to remind myself of what the message even was because I’m seeing it so much less than I had been). I leave my phone on the counter or kitchen table more often, and mainly just want to know where it is so that I know my son hasn’t put it in the toilet.
When I do unbrick my phone, there’s a lot more intentionality behind it: I need to Google something (yes, I even have Google blocked so I can’t go down any rabbit holes), I need to get on Pinterest for a recipe, I want to get on Libby to rent a new book. The next step of my Brick journey is to remember to re-brick my phone after intentionally unbricking it so that I go back to blocking myself out of everything. I’m getting better at it, but I notice a difference in my screen time when I intentionally unbrick my phone but forget to reset it.
I recently created a Brick schedule in the app where every day, my phone is automatically bricked via the app at 8am to my selected setting. Given the stage of life I’m in, I love it because it’s one less thing I have to keep track of. What’s crazy though is that I now don’t even notice my phone is bricked for a while because I’m just on it that much less. Most days, I’m now bricked for most of the day until at least dinner time (if I need Pinterest) or when the kids go to bed and I just want to sit and scroll for a little bit.
I feel less up-to-date about what’s going on in the world and it feels great. I thought I’d have FOMO but I really don’t. I feel less stressed, more present with my kids, and more productive when it comes to work-related matters (like writing this blog post during a free hour instead of mindlessly checking social media).
If you’re noticing yourself on your phone too much, I highly recommend getting yourself a Brick. It’s a one-time purchase for the Brick itself, there’s no subscription, and you can even share your Brick with others - they just have to download the app and tap to your Brick to brick their phone (helpful for family members, less so for friends unless you’re cool with them showing up randomly to your house to unbrick their phone). Make 2026 your journey to reduce screen time and as Brick says, get back to living!
