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The Brick isn't a traditional screentime app. It's a physical magnet that's the key to blocking certain apps on your phone. Jeffrey Hazelwood/Anna Gragert/CNET; Brick/GettyImages
My forever goal is to spend less time on my iPhone to protect my mental health. However, as a wellness writer whose job is to keep up with the latest health tech trends and news, it can be tough for me to decrease my screentime. Plus, iPhone and in-app screentime limits don't work for me, as I find they're easy to disable in seconds with just a few taps.
Perhaps the over 1 billion people who spent at least three hours a day scrolling social media in 2020 can relate, especially considering that the pandemic years supercharged our scrolling and created poor digital hygiene habits many of us still haven't recovered from.
Yet, since its launch in 2023, a palm-sized device called the Brick has gained popularity for its ability to prevent people from endlessly scrolling on their phones. It's a $59 square magnet "powered by an NFC [near-field communication] chip embedded in the device," TJ Driver, the Brick's co-founder, tells CNET.
"Instead of relying on batteries or an external power source, it draws power directly from your smartphone's NFC reader when you tap it," he says. "That communicates with your Brick app to lock (or unlock) your selected apps, putting real friction between you and your screentime."
In other words, you have to physically tap your phone on the Brick to activate or deactivate the lock, so you can't simply tap it away like you would a screentime alert or app on your phone.
To find out if the Brick is the key to cutting ties with doomscrolling, I spent months tapping my phone on the surface of that unassuming gray square.
How to cement the Brick into your life
Your purchase of the Brick includes the physical Brick and access to the Brick app, no subscription necessary. Inside the box, there's a QR code that takes you to a webpage where you can download the app for iOS or Android.
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