Rec | ‎BRICK

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Rec'd on 📱 5/8: AN APP THAT ACTUALLY IMPROVED YOUR LIFE

paired with a physical $50 magnet called a brick that you can put on your fridge or wherever, brick locks you out of distracting apps on your phone until you physically tap your phone to the brick. brick your phone, leave your house, go to work or on a walk distraction free, and unbrick your phone when you get home. it rules.

@brendanooooo

4d ago

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@evilalexander

For anyone looking for something similar to this, but you don't wanna shell out $50, you can get some NFC tags/stickers (I've seen them go as cheap as $8 for 50 of them), download an app that let's you choose what apps/websites you want to block (I use Burnout Buddy, a Pro account is $10 and you get it forever, but I remember the free features were pretty solid too), and then use the Shortcuts app to attach a shortcut to the NFC tag/sticker that toggles the blocking feature from your selected app. A bit more work, but you really only have to do it the one time, and you'll save yourself about $30. Plus you'll have all those extra NFC stickers to try other cool ideas with later. I just recommend you also block the Shortcuts app when setting it up or otherwise it's pretty easy to get around your self-imposed barrier

4d ago

@superstar

sick

4d ago

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A device that bricks your phone

This is long because it’s the one thing I bought off an IG ad that has actually been life changing. For years I wanted a dumb phone to fight my phone slash online shopping addiction, but I didn’t wanna lose maps and a good camera and the iMessage “echo” effect. This does that. My Brick lives on my fridge, and once I tap my phone to it, any app I haven’t whitelisted is blocked. And you can block anything. Even the calculator! Which it deserves…after I blocked the obvious ones like IG and shopping, I realized how addicted I was to *information itself* Occasionally, I’d need to Google something of import, but mostly, I used it to scratch my gnawing, itchy brain. I’d habitually fact-check conversations as I had them, to look up interior photos of the restaurant I’d soon be going to, to search, for the hundredth time, whether fish can feel pain. So anyway I blocked Chrome and Safari and it was nuts. I can’t really get stuck in my bed in a phone hole because the phone fun dries up real fast. I have to just.. get up? Read a book? Incredible. When I do unbrick, usually because I need to do promo for my book, I feel feral and off leash, I turn into a zombie ipad kid, and it’s sobering but makes me glad I have something to stop it. It’s nice being able to purchase a personal quality that you lack.

@arbys_rising

Sep 30, 2024

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Brick

I caved to the ads and got a Brick to help me curb my social media usage. So far (it’s been about a week) so good. While my overall screen time hasn’t taken a huge hit, I can already tell this thing is going to help! It’s brought my attention to how frequently I compulsively reach for my phone, and works to block me from apps while I’m working (blows the Apple screen time function out of the water). Something about having to physically get up and go tap my phone against it to unlock REALLY works for me (read: I’m lazy). I’ve already been reading a lot more in the past year and I’m hoping this will help me add writing to my roster of activities. I’d like to train myself to pick up a book, notebook, or project instead of my phone as much as possible. Anyway, if you've been thinking about getting one of these, I recommend it :)

@phebson

Jan 31, 2025

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LOCKED IN

this app where you can ‘lock in’ with friends and see who can go without using their phone the longest. blocks all non-essential apps while youre locked in - a life saver when studying