WhatsApp already has statuses and it will get more "distractions". If things like "Brick" will be successful, ad companies like Meta will work around them by distractifying essential apps.

It's better to think about what we did twenty or thirty years ago. Ad companies of course prefer their "product" not to think about this. It's quite simple (but difficult to execute): just don't pick up your phone this often. Understand that ad companies are actively fighting you because they want you as a "product" sheep consuming ads.

Some tools, tricks and stratagems are helpful:

- Configure notifications not to vibrate or make a sound

- Airplane mode for some time-out, for example when hiking

- Leave the phone home and learn to embrace the helplessness

- Learn not to think too much about it and live in the now

- If you return home, don't open your phone immediately but do something else

- Leave the phone in a different room when sleeping

- Understand if you say you cannot that these are psychological tricks by ad companies

- Understand that it is an addiction and accept if you binge

- Don't try to find perfect solutions

- Everybody is different, so try to find your own tricks, tools and stratagems, but stick to simple things

- Adapt when something changes like unwanted features added to an app

- Generally smile, relax, understand, let it go and enjoy life

Any idea how they managed to implement this in iOS? Normally I thought the iOS API didn’t give you access to stuff like this. I did see on one of their notion docs they mentioned blocking safari with an iOS shortcut so I wonder if that’s maybe how it’s being accomplished under the hood

My very old phone started getting very weird, so I got a new one. Transferred zero apps, so I download just what I need.

I never used Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok or Snapchat.

Nor Uber, headspace or Audible.

It’s the Henry David Thoreau of phones. I “own” apps dating back to 2010, and one of the first, Trunk Notes, works fine. I like wikis.

Is this the way most people would want it to work?

My partner has the opposite need - they want to be able to use the phone out and about but get stuck doom scrolling at home and need all the screen time things on in the evening

The budget option is just to go to settings and select "digital wellbeing and parental controls". You can set timers to block your apps after X amount of time. I've found it useful to block chrome on my phone after 30 minutes of activity.

You can of course 'hack' this setup by just switching off the setting or rewarding yourself another 10 minutes etc. but then you can do this with anything...

Or - and I know this is a wild suggestion - uninstall and delete all social media apps.

You might think you need them to stay in touch with some people but you don’t

I want to add another perspective here. The app design and distractions can be viewed as an absolutely bad thing, but tbh life may be not that great for some (and that’s also by design, don’t tell me everyone’s going to be .1%).

What is actually bad is ads. If you turn off ads, then “distraction” may be seen just as “you made it as a biological entity, you have decent food, home, internet with no ads and lots of time”. I’m neither poor, lone, sad, nor successful, popular or happy by local standards, so I think there’s no personal bias in evaluating this lifestyle. Life is really slow and boring, everything takes hours and unwanted interaction or lots of money, and the internet and apps are nice replacement. You just have to reflect on what you consume and manage your feeds, groups and interests. Same applies to life, so it’s not that different. But for some reason life often gets highlighted as something natural (go get it) and the internet as something making you a sheep. Well, depending on where you live, streets and places can also try to turn you into cattle.

Managing your internet life is doable. Don’t hesitate to dislike good content you don’t want. Clean/clear your history when stuck, or redo accounts. Don’t use only a couple of platforms, always research. Take breaks from platforms, not from the internet.

So my list is:

- remove ads by any means

- don’t tolerate ads

- manage your feeds

- reflect on your state through hours, days and weeks of activity

- learn basic eyes-shoulders-torso gymnastics and use these regularly

That’s probably it. You may think it’s a bad advice, but it is not an advice. It’s important to learn about yourself and accept what you are, not what some stereotype tells you should be. If you are a lifer, go with it and skip this.

If a person does not have the will power to put their phone on silent/put it away.

Even after buying this, they won't have that will power to not get it un bricked continuously.

Great device for kids though. Put the brick in unreachable place and you're golden.

It's a gimmick, but good gimmick.

I use multiple things to make my phone (which I need to for working and banking) way less distracting:

- I don't have a phone number in my phone. Just internet, so no distracting calls only messages

- I heavily use Nothing Phones options to categorize notifications. Which is brilliant and should be part of android stock.

- Possibly relevant notifications are shown on my Garmin watch. So in 95% or all cases my phone rings I know I don't have to look at it now

Not having any social media definitely helps as well

Well, between Notifications (mostly) OFF[1] and Always-DND Phone[2], it should solve most phone issues. Your only struggle will be to be able to follow this new nirvana.

1. https://brajeshwar.com/2014/missing-step-productivity-activi...

2. https://phone.wtf

This could be a great device for those struggling to limit time spent on hyper distracting apps. However, this is pretty concerning:

"What happens if I lose my Brick? -

We know that accidents happen (you might lose your Brick or forget to leave an important app unblocked before leaving the house), so you get a handful of Emergency Unbricks that will automatically unblock everything. Once these are gone, the only way to unbrick without the device will be deleting the app - meaning all of your data (customized settings and usage history) will be permanently deleted. Note, though, that if Strict Mode is enabled you will not be able to delete the app when Bricked.

We'd love to hear your thoughts / suggestions on what would be a good solution for lost Bricks and Emergency Unbricking - drop a comment in our feedback forum."

I hope they find a less invasive way of unbricking without removing the device's effectiveness.

I switched to a unihertz jelly phone. I configured the screen to display in grayscale.

It can do everything I need, but it's uncomfortable to use. The screen is tiny, it's a pain to type, etc. But if I really need to reply to an email it's entirely possible.

Which is exactly what I wanted.

Or just enable Assistive Access https://support.apple.com/guide/assistive-access-iphone/abou...

Shout-out for minimalist phone app for android. https://www.minimalistphone.com/

I am using this app since nearly 3 years and I am not missing the colourfull clown-puke-esc like app logos one second.

I’m wondering what are the security mechanisms for this. What happens if your dog chews on the brick while the phone is blocked? Is there a “manual entry code” option in the app?

Does this have applications for kids/students? I could see a school using these sort of like how they use those pouches (but it doesn't require the pouches). I guess parents don't need it because the whole point of this app/device — the fact that the user has an always-available password — isn't true for children, whose parents have the password.

Still, I'm curious what others think of the possibilities for kids.

If you've got a Mac to hand, Apple provides a free tool "Apple Configurator" that can be used as a more powerful but less slick version of this.

iPhone only at the moment to save others clicking.

I like the clever gimmick of the separate physical component, but existing blockers already allow switching via charger connect, I doubt it's more robust than those. And if you're on the move it's just an additional thing to carry. Nice idea in the home or office though.

So, a UX/design win maybe.

Lots of cheap software only alternatives though that should be good enough for most.

Surprised you can get that level of control in iOS.

I wanted to build an app to turn on tethering automatically and you can't even change settings at all using Swift and the SDK.

I use an OnePlus 9 during my work day that only has Slack, email and other basic tools to get my job done. Once im done for the day I pick up my original phone.

Only thing that sucks is SMS / Phone calls do not transfer.

I did something similar on my Iphone using custom Focus modes and shortcuts for automation. It allows you to block different apps and notifications from them, even change your lock and home screen layouts and background. You could also trigger shortcuts by an airtag but I don't have one. So sounds like a very similar product here?

What are people doing on their phones all day? My sister (who's 40 this year) has her nose in her phone all the time, even at family events. I live right by a bicycle path and can see people driving by with one hand on the handle bar, the other holding a phone. Same for people at work during breaks. I'm genuinely asking.

Or just use a cellular watch like Apple Watch Ultra instead of carrying a phone with you all the time.

Wouldn't this app be the same minus the hardware? [https://one-sec.app/] seems like they actually did a research paper out of it. [10.1073/pnas.2213114120]

I use my phone to run my company and write software. I hardly use my laptop; I get people who are addicted/obsessed with social media want something else. I don’t have that and I want a full functional phone. Dex is the best thing, with the worst marketing.

Just ditch your smartphone.

Not carried one in three years and I am so much more focused and happy.

On Android you can customize notification settings with the OS including for limited durations. I didn't dig much into the marketing, but what's the gain here?

so what's the point of the hardware other than the upsell?

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I switched to button phone. big display, bigger distraction

$50 seems a bit steep for a 3D-printed RFID tag.

When i go to work i put my phone in a locker.

Or, you know, take some responsibility and don’t even have these apps on your phone.

If you need them go to a pc and browse them there. I can assure you you’re not missing out even if you check only once a week

I mean it feels like 2-factor authentication where both factors are one and the same.

If someone had the willpower to ignore distractions already, they would do so with or without gadgets like this one. And ultimately if they crave those distractions again they're just going to stop using this tool after those 15 minutes or whatever time.

Similar tools have existed for a long time, and while sure there's an opportunity to capture a small market in the same way diet pills sell to a few people, it's nothing novel or even effective at solving the real problem.

This is just yet another gimmick that tries to tackle the symptoms of the underlying issue that we actually like the distractions and need those dopamine hits.