"Almost a year ago, I bought Brick, a $59 gadget that physically blocks smartphone apps. I didn't expect it to turn me into an evangelist. When anyone in my life complained about their screen time, I'd tell them about the little gray magnet on my fridge - how I tap my phone every night, blocking my email and internet apps until morning. Leaning forward, I'd share that I was the most focused and least frazzled I've been in the decade-plus I've owned an iPhone."
"At first, the reaction was polite skepticism. Lately, it's been recognition. In the past month, multiple friends have brought up Brick without prompting - orasked if I'd ever heard of it (they were perhaps not ready to hear me wax lyrical for 10 minutes). Soon, I started to realize this is the hot new form of abstinence - or "appstinence.""
"As 2026 kicks off, more people are resolving to treat their phones the way earlier generations treated alcohol.The Wall Street Journal reported a spike in digital-detox resolutionsin 2026, while The New York Times predicts that " dumb phones" - phones with minimal apps or no internet access - will become a status symbol. Brick is not without competitors: Opal, Padlock, and Freedom are other products on the market gaining steam as methods to curb screen time."
Brick is a $59 gadget that physically blocks smartphone apps by acting as a small magnet users attach to a surface and tap to disable email and internet apps overnight. Users report increased focus and reduced frazzled feelings after using Brick. Interest in phone-free lifestyles and digital-detox resolutions rose entering 2026, with younger people especially drawn to reducing screen time and treating phone abstinence like a status symbol. Competitors such as Opal, Padlock, and Freedom offer similar app-blocking tools. The term "bricked" has emerged among users to describe being blocked from apps.
Read at Business Insider
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