Your Phone, Minus the Distractions | Hacker News Reader

Your Phone, Minus the Distractions

getbrick.app

88 pointsyellow_postit83 comments

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

Also : - Delete the app, use the web version only (Social Networks and many others...)

webapps versions are often less practical on purpose (to make you switch to the app) and that's a good thing : it makes the experience less rewarding and we end up less hooked.

Example : Messenger was removed from the web mobile version of FB. At first it made me angry. In the end, I use FB less :)

The downside of using the web app is it's harder to block yourself.

At least on iOS, you can set time limits for specific websites. E.g., I have a 15 minute limit for Twitter, as I refuse to download the app.

My solution to this was to switch to Firefox and download the LeechBlock extension. Had to disable Chrome but this has worked great for me so far

My phone is on do not disturb 24/7. I do miss some calls occasionally, but in general its been a big improvement. Been doing it for the past 8+ years. The phone is there for me, I'm not there for the phone.

You can have it on DnD and still allow calls though. I have the same on iPhone but 1 contact (my wife)is whitelisted and I always get notifications from her and _all_ calls go through because I never know from which number they call from the bank or school

I use Focus modes to the same effect. It gives me all of the notifications while I'm at work but basically none otherwise.

This is like telling an alcoholic to not drink as much, or, more aptly, like telling a heroin addict to try _not_ doing heroin. These apps are designed from the bottom-up to be extremely addictive to many people.

I agree.

But we can't expect help from the ad companies.

So what can we do? One wrote in this thread that they use parental control against themselves and put the code for the parental control in an inconvenient place to get to. Everyone is different. It is difficult but not impossible.

The same rule applies to phone apps as to work email and meetings: the usefulness to you is likely proportional to the time/effort spent by the sender devoted specifically to you. Heuristically, it's inversely proportional to the number of recipients/participants.

So in messaging apps like Whatsapp I silence all notifications to groups (but not 1 on 1), and for email I read the contents of those addressed to me personally, but for dept/company wide email usually just the subject line.

I put my phone in airplane mode last weekend and friends thought I died & called the cops. Said I should have notified them before I did this …

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

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

In my case, biggest limit is the 2FA for work stuff.

Still want to have a "no phones in bedroom" rule when moving. Clear problem with it in the same room and much worse when it's handy from the bed itself.

And that's despite no notifications for almost anything (exceptions include banking), even just web browsing alone is an issue.

>If things like "Brick" will be successful, ad companies like Meta will work around them by distractifying essential apps.

That seems like a very hypothetical situation and no reason to dismiss the product. I have tried (and apply) most if not all of your "tricks" and I still could see this as helpful. Whenever I have to apply willpower to something, it's like I have a little less of it for other things (similar to the concept of decision fatigue). If this thing could remove the choice in just a few situations, that would be positive.

It's not hypothetical. WhatsApp statuses are already here to pave the way for more advertisement.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/7/23950795/meta-whatsapp-st...

Sure, just about every app has or will have ads. How is that an argument against blocking them?

> ad companies like Meta will work around them by distractifying essential apps

Which "essential apps" are being controlled by Meta?

I use parental controls with time limits on myself and stash the code in an inconvenient location.

Works extremely well.

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

"Adapt" as in "just bend over and take it?

At worst, delete the app.

I used to be on my phone for six hours a day and after realizing that it was virtually all wasted time I started trying to cut back. It was hard to break the addition but after years of experimentation I succeeded.

My strategy these days is very simple.

* All notifications are on silent all the time except for a tiny class of things - e.g. actual phone calls, and delivery apps.

* When I'm at home the phone sits on my toilet. When I'm at the office it sits in my bag. At night it's turned off and charging.

That's really it. <2 hours of phone time per day with no downsides. I bring it out of the toilet temporarily if I'm eating a meal alone, sometimes.

Physical separation from the device has been the key for me, whenever possible, it's simply not on my person, so my attention rarely goes to it.

I like the symbolism of this shitty device only having access to my attention when I'm taking a dump.

Happy to read that something works out for you. Everybody is different and the key is to find your own solution even if it is not perfect. Every second not wasted is a win.

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

The Screen Time API extends a little beyond what you get with built-in Screen Time, like the ability to hide apps. It's still a bit funny that this product bashes Screen Time for being too easy to bypass when you could also just set a pin that you then write down and cycle once you remember it too well. I do this to enable the passcode change lock and account lock to prevent full compromise in case someone shouldersurfs my PIN and steals my phone (been known to happen).

Screen time passcode is what I do too. The rule I set for myself is that my partner ist the only one allowed to lock it and unlock it. (Technically, you can always remove the passcode with the Apple password, but I don to that).

Screentime password for me is too automatic. Something like the brick may be enough to break out of automatic mode and into thinking about it at which point i may have a chance to stop my self. ADHD is a fun beast to tame.

I think apps like Opal use a combination of screen time APIs and abusing Shortcuts, might be something similar.

I would guess that it’s using MDM/configuration profiles

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...

My understanding is that you cannot with this device

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

Does anybody use the social part of the social media apps anymore? In my circles, nobody was using any social media to stay in touch with anybody anymore. They were just using them to consume the media posted by people they didn't know. That made it easy for me to delete all my social media accounts, as those platforms were no longer tools to stay in touch with anyone.

I only use Instagram to see funny cat reels my wife sends me.

But people want those? This product exist for a very special niche - to be able to physically broadcast your performative victimhood/lack of agency without inconveniencing yourself with the actual, non-performative solution.

I do have to wonder who this would be “broadcast to”. You leave the brick at home. No one would know you use it

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.

It’s like saying you can’t smoke in your apartment, you have to smoke outside.

Sure, you are probably still addicted and will go outside way too much to smoke, but that’s also probably a great incremental tool to work on getting rid of your addiction.

I think physical location of the brick makes a hell of a difference.

Not at all. The brick acts as a commitment device. You don't need willpower when the brick is at home and you are not. Or mail the brick to yourself.

I feel like this isn't needed for kids, since you can just use the parental controls. The omnipresent password (that adults have for themselves) isn't applicable for kids.

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

What most people consider distractions are social media apps. Even with notifications disabled you’ll pick up the phone “just to see what’s new”.

If you already have the willpower to completely avoid social media, you are not the target audience :)

It's more about the self conditioning IMO. For me it was the flashing LED that made me question if something interesting might have happened somewhere.

By removing triggers I could adapt back to a more healthy relationship with my smartphone.

You can use social media and still don't get that hype / rush or FOMO.

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...

is there something similar to this on Android?

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?

I would think (and hope) that uninstalling the app "unbricks" all other apps.

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?

Unblocking in your case it’s really easy and I would do it all the time. In this product, if I understand correctly, you leave the brick at home and can only be distracted outside of work hours (for instance)

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.

Last 10 years of social media by trial and error crystallized perfectly addictive media form turning humans into dopamine addicted zombies. The form is a 30 seconds long vertical video with action and vivid music. It works and it's not a only trap for "dumb people". You open to check or learn "something useful" and one hour later you wake up scrolling the infinite feed.

Based off what I see when I ride/walk: Loads of Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Messages/WhatsApp. Games. Sports apps. It's basically a TV in your pocket.

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

I really hope Apple comes out with an AW that has more battery life in lieu of all the outdoorsy/sports features of the AWU. I see lots of wealthy desk warriors wearing them, partly for the better battery life and partly for the status (of having the most expensive AW). I know some people who use some of the sports-related features, but most people I've talked to would prefer more battery than all the ruggedness. I know I certainly would. Get me to a week of battery life and I'm sold.

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]

One Sec requires Shortcuts to be configured per-app and is made not to block access but everytime on launch introduce some friction.

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?

I think it is also a great way to disrupt some automatic habits that people fall into. I know with my ADHD I have tried to use app blockers and they all fail because the urge to procrastinate is so great that I found my self by passing them through various means just on autopilot. For me and my ADHD, having a physical process required would be enough to activate my brain and gain control and bring it back into focus. I am very tempted to try it.

Their sell is that you can leave the physical key and thus be unable to "umbrick" until you return to it. Interesting idea - sort of like the "leave your phone out of reach when in bed" advice I and many others follow. Maybe the physicality of it makes it a little easier to turn off the noise.

(Of course, you could always just delete your accounts on Twitter, FB, IG, etc. That pretty much worked for me to make my phone sufficiently utilitarian)

A friend of mine uses a strategy of giving the unblocking code to his girlfriend, so he's uncomfortable asking her to allow twitter 20 times a day.

A physical device you have to walk to sounds like an alternative for people with no girlfriends.

Or a way to avoid turning your girlfriend into your mom.

Apparently you cannot "unbrick" your apps until you return to this physical brick device. But yeah, you might be able to accomplish the same thing with a printed QR code.

I switched to button phone. big display, bigger distraction

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

It includes the non-subscription app usage.

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.

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