In a surprising way: the small gadget that will wean you off your smartphone

An article about the Brick, a small physical gadget based on an NFC chip, designed to help overcome smartphone addiction. The device blocks selected apps, and to unblock them you must physically access it. The article presents how it works, the psychological benefits (exploiting laziness), and the potential for parental use to create customized blocking for children.

An article about the Brick, a small physical gadget based on an NFC chip, designed to help overcome smartphone addiction. The device allows the user to choose which apps or websites to block via a dedicated app, and after the initial pairing, the phone reverts to a basic state allowing only calls and SMS. To unblock, you must physically access the device and tap the phone to it again. The article emphasizes the psychological aspect: exploiting human laziness to deter endless scrolling. It also presents the potential for parental use, as the device can be used on multiple phones simultaneously, creating customized blocking for children, limiting access to addictive apps like TikTok without disconnecting them entirely. The article cites a statistic that the average person picks up their phone 186 times a day and spends over five hours on it.