To be sure, a 2025 study<\/a> by researchers at the University of Alberta, found many published articles on the topic associated social media use with depression and anxiety, although this could depend on people\u2019s usage patterns.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kristian Del Rosario, a 28-year-old personal injury lawyer and influencer based in New York City, told Fortune she\u2019s steadily seen her productivity improve since one of Bloom\u2019s competitors, Brick, sent her one of its products, which usually costs $59. The company did not pay her to promote it, although she posted a video about the device earlier this month.<\/p>\n Del Rosario said she likes Brick because it creates more of an obstacle when she wants to instinctively open her most used apps, unlike the Screen Time feature on iPhone which also lets users block some apps until they enter their passcode. Because she has to tap her phone on the product to unlock the apps, it helps her create a physical distance and resist the temptation when she most needs to focus, she said.<\/p>\n Brick founder TJ Driver told Fortune creating this separation between a person and their phone helps turn automatic doomscrolling into more of a conscious decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBy adding this extra moment of intentionality, Brick gives users a moment to decide whether they really want to open an app or stay present,\u201d Driver said in a statement to Fortune.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Brick<\/p>\n At the same time, Del Rosario said she likes that the product allows her to keep her messages on so she can communicate with clients and also turn the blocker off if she\u2019s taking a break. The device has even helped her rearrange her bedtime routine for the better.<\/p>\n \u201cAt night, instead of doomscrolling, it allows me to just kind of unwind because I can\u2019t access the apps at all,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both Bloom\u2019s and Brick\u2019s physical devices may also give them an edge with young people who increasingly prefer the analog over the digital<\/a>. From vinyl records to handwritten cards, Gen Z is seeking out the real-world equivalents of apps like Spotify<\/a> or iMessage to reduce their screen time and reminisce about the days of the tangible they may not have experienced.\u00a0<\/p>\n The increased popularity of devices like Bloom and Brick also comes as the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has pushed back on claims that the app he oversees is addictive<\/a>. During a trial this week against Instagram parent company Meta in which a 20-year-old plaintiff claimed she had developed problems with her mental health because of a social media addiction, Mosseri said there is a difference between \u201cclinical addiction\u201d and \u201cproblematic\u201d use.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whether these apps are addictive or not, Del Rosario said it\u2019s clear young people are finding it hard to bring down their screen time, even when they want to.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGen Z in general, I think we are very obsessed with our phones, and it really just stems from the fact that we consume information, we find out what\u2019s going on in the world that way,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Novelli, for his part, wants to keep growing Bloom after he graduates later this year, including potentially expanding the product\u2019s capabilities to laptops, which can become another time-suck, he said, because even without scrolling people can still get stuck in a YouTube<\/a> autoplay doom loop or an endless Netflix<\/a> binge.<\/p>\n While the popularity of these app-blocking devices increases (Novelli said the company has sold more than 60,000), questions remain about their efficacy when the people who buy them are mainly discovering the devices through the internet\u2014and talking about them on social media. This disconnect has led some, like Slate contributing writer Alex Kirshner, to question whether influencers who talk about using a device like Brick or Bloom online, are actually\u00a0being genuine.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I see an influencer post about how they\u2019re so committed to never being on their phone, look at my Brick. I\u2019m smelling bulls\u2013t. I\u2019m thinking this is made up because the fact that you\u2019re doing it is kind of in contravention to this idea that you\u2019re putting forward,\u201d Kirshner said<\/a> on an episode of Slate\u2019s internet culture podcast, In Case You Missed It (ICYMI).\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet Novelli said he thinks social media, ultimately, isn\u2019t the issue. The real problem is the way people are automatically reaching for their phone to scroll during all hours of the day. Social media is still a great tool to communicate with others, and is especially helpful, if it\u2019s done right, for spreading the importance of cutting back on screen time, he added.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no problem with social media in regulation. The question is, how do you regulate it in the best way possible for yourself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gen Zers are trying to get over their phone addiction with the help of products that make it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[91882,10602,4677,2945,61,60,202,54912,58,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-296989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-analog-devices","9":"tag-apple-iphone","10":"tag-digital","11":"tag-gen-z","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-mobile","15":"tag-smartphones-and-mobile-devices","16":"tag-social-media","17":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/05-Brick-on-Table.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n