To live in the year 2026 is to be attached to your phone. And while there’s no denying that having unfettered access to information, human connection and real-time events is incredibly beneficial for society, it has also created a form of dependence that many might deem unhealthy.
Brick is a simple device that aims to curb that dependency, or at the very least, create mindfulness around your phone use. There are indeed many apps that already exist that temporarily block your access to certain apps or prevent you from receiving distracting notifications — however, “Bricking” works a bit differently.
Unlike Apple’s Screen Time or the Digital Wellbeing from Android — which are easy to bypass — this pocket-sized and subscription-free device requires you to physically tap it to unlock the apps or websites that you had previously “bricked” yourself from. This means, if you leave the house with the stalwart intention of not doomscrolling on TikTok at work or stalking your ex’s Instagram during your morning commute, then you have no choice but to stick with it, since your Brick (and the access to the apps that you choose to restrict) has ostensibly been left at home.
The same goes for those nightly social media binges that might make you spiral when you should be sleeping. Once you’ve used the Brick to restrict apps, keeping it in another room will likely prevent you from venturing down the digital rabbit hole — it’s easier to resist the urge to scroll if it requires getting out of bed.
Five people in the HuffPost newsroom put Brick to the test (or at least tried to) and found it incredibly effective and illuminating, with many achieving greater productivity and more presence in their day-to-day. It also had a surprising effect on a few people who ended up realizing that they didn’t need it after all. Read their experiences ahead.
In just one week, Brick cut unwanted screen time in half and helped one person “divorce the guilt” of phone use.
“I am well aware that my screen time prior to using the Brick was appalling; I averaged about 10 to 11 hours a week. A lot of this was spent watching longer YouTube videos or listening to music and podcasts (I’m also the type of person who usually ends up playing games on my phone while watching TV, just for something to do with my hands). Some of this was also spent reading books on my Kindle app when I left my actual Kindle at home, though, which I don’t necessarily count as screen time in the same way.
What I’ve figured out about the Brick is that it works extremely well when I use it, and I was very excited by how much my screen time dipped in the beginning, but once the novelty wore off a little, I realized I was cheating myself out of the benefits by ‘forgetting’ to use it sometimes. Like all productivity devices, it involves some habit-building, but this is where I think setting schedules that automatically Brick it for you can come in handy. I have definitely noticed a shift in how I spend time outside of work — I’ve finished 14 books since the beginning of February!
One additional thing I also think is important to note is that no matter whether your screen time was like mine or just an hour a day, you can’t expect the Brick to get you totally down to zero, or even all that close. Remember that everything counts as screen time, even ‘good’ uses of your time — FaceTiming family members, using map apps to navigate, catching up on the news, etc.
A big part of this experience for me has been divorcing guilt from the number of minutes I’m on my phone. This is a great device to help you stop wasting time doing mindless scrolling or playing. But if you’re expecting it to help you become completely phone-free and are disappointed that it can’t achieve that for you, you may actually be missing out on the incremental changes it can help you make in your routine.”
— Erica Kam, shopping writer
It helped one person regain focus in all areas of their lives, like work and time spent with friends.
“If you’re wondering why go through the measure of buying a separate item for blocking my screen time, consider this: Apple’s Screen Time app is extremely easy to bypass and snooze, but the Brick isn’t –– which is exactly why it works so well for me. Rather than relying on an app to block social media, Brick forces me to stand up, walk over to it, and physically tap my phone to unlock access to my socials or any app I’ve turned off.
I have it on a schedule to block YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and even my email during work hours, and, I’m sure to my manager’s glee, it’s helped me focus more at work.
Pure productivity aside, it also helps me stay focused in the moment. If I’m out at a restaurant with my partner, or meeting a buddy for coffee, I don’t have the opportunity to glance at my phone and check notifications mid-conversation, nor can I doomscroll as I wait for someone to show up. And it works not just for ANY app on my phone, but also select websites, so if you’re, say, an avid Reddit user or find yourself checking the news a little too much, it’s a good way to curb the impulsiveness and condition yourself into checking less.
This isn’t for everyone, of course, but for someone like me, who genuinely lives online, it’s really helped me focus on what I’d like to do. It’s making me become okay with not having time to temporarily, from looking at memes and chatting with internet friends.”
— Kevin Cortez, shopping editor
This perspective-building tool helped one reporter take up a new hobby they wouldn’t have otherwise stuck with.
“The first week I used it, I was surprised and embarrassed by how often my fingers would automatically tap the social media apps my Brick blocked me from accessing. My Brick bouncer would gently scold me whenever I tried to instinctively check Instagram or TikTok.
The app gives you five ‘emergency’ unbricking workarounds if you really need to access an app you have blocked and you’re not near your Brick device, but I have yet to use one. Needing to use ‘emergency’ unbricking to make an Instagram story about the Galentine’s party I attended really put into perspective what exactly I was doing with my one precious life.
The Brick challenged my belief that real-time social media feedback was necessary to stay connected with my friends or to be good at my job. In my opinion, this forced reflection is the Brick’s best benefit. I’ve missed a few direct messages from my friends, I’m not seeing as many funny TikTok memes anymore, and I’m out of the loop on some social media trends, but I feel more in control of what I am consuming. At the very least, I am paying more attention to how I spend my time on my phone.
I’m continuing to “Brick” myself in the evenings, so that I can learn a new screen-free hobby of crochet. Just this past week, my phone screen time dropped 62% compared to the week before. Making loops of crochet rows with my hands feels more satisfying than the loops of TikToks I watched each night, but I don’t think I would have stuck with my new hobby without the Brick’s admonishments.
I’ve gone from my high of nine hours of daily screen time to a more reasonable five or six hours during a workday. I still have lapses where I will go a night without Bricking, but I feel much calmer when I do. When my head is not cluttered with the pulls of social media notifications and enticing Reels, I have time to figure out what I really want to do. And that’s a gift that I think is worth keeping.”
— Monica Torres, senior life reporter, (Read Torres’ in-depth reporting on Brick and how it worked for her.)
Others say Brick has helped them make peace with their scrolling habits, without any kind of monitoring or restriction.
“I have never been an avid tracker of my screen time — my assumption was always that it was so bad that I didn’t even want to know. When I started tracking it a couple of months ago, I was shocked to find out that (in my opinion) it’s not so bad, after all! Now, if you were to look at my total daily average, you’d probably disagree, because it’s coming in at about 13 hours a day. But that’s because I use the Nanit app, a baby monitor, for 12 hours every night. I leave my phone open all night long so I can hear if my toddler cries out, so it’s not a great indicator of how much time I’m actually scrolling on my phone.
I then assessed how much time I’m spending on social media sites (Instagram and TikTok are my drugs of choice) and it turns out I rarely exceed 2-3 hours a day. Frankly, I’m fine with that! As a result, I didn’t even bother setting up the Brick. I am at peace with my scrolling habits and don’t think I need to be overly monitored. However, I will be keeping it in case I ever find myself sliding off the deep end! For now, I’m doing my best to log off and read a book before bed, and so far I’ve been successfully self-controlled.”
— Lourdes Avila Uribe, senior shopping writer
Some appreciate that Brick helps “retrain the brain” to have more intention each time you reach for your phone.
“I want to preface this review by saying that my screen time use isn’t necessarily congruent with a lack of productivity. In fact, according to Android, most of my phone time is taken up by YouTube, which I really only use to run podcasts in the background while I cook, shower or clean around the house.
I shared a similar experience with Uribe in that I don’t know if monitoring my screen time would necessarily be of value to me and my lifestyle, so I ended up not installing or using the Brick. Not that the set-up seems particularly difficult, nor the concept unhelpful, I just don’t think I care enough about my phone and app usage, nor its impact on my daily productivity, though maybe I should. I’m of the mindset that life is hard enough as it is, and if a couple of hours spent harmlessly scrolling on TikTok helps someone decompress from their day, then so be it.
I appreciate that the concept of the Brick is to teach mindfulness with phone use as opposed to temporarily blocking specific apps outright. It’s almost like a retraining of the brain, so that when you do click into certain apps, it’s with more intention. I’m admittedly someone who will mindlessly click onto TikTok or Instagram throughout the day, almost by the force of bodily habit, so I understand the merit behind Brick, and I imagine it’s probably useful for a lot of people. Maybe one day I will give it a shot when I stop being so stubborn.”
— Tessa Flores, senior shopping writer