Taking Back Our Screen Time

Rediscover your phone’s true purpose with a simple tap

By: Josie Smith and Leta Kate Lamb

We work in digital marketing so being online literally comes with the job. Somewhere between content calendars, doom-scrolling, and “just checking one thing,” we realized our screen time outside of work was… not exactly giving balance.  We decided to try something different.

Enter: Brick.

What is Brick?

Brick is a digital wellness tool designed to help you reclaim your time and attention. Phones were meant to make communication easier, but now they’re inhibiting connection. With a simple tap, Brick locks access to distracting apps.

Unlike Apple’s screentime limits (which are very easy to override), Brick requires you to physically scan the device to unlock your blocked apps. 

Why We Tried It

Honestly? A casual conversation about screen time turned into a realization: we needed boundaries.

Our work requires us to constantly be online and that makes the balance of offline time even more important. Doing this together made it feel less like a restriction and more like a challenge. Plus, we were genuinely curious what we would do with the extra time.

Apps We Blocked

LK: Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, and Nextdoor 

Josie: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest, Amazon Prime, and basically any online shopping app that knows my weakness

What We Did Instead

LK:

  • Started practicing hot yoga regularly

  • Got into diamond art (unexpectedly therapeutic)

  • Rediscovered her love for reading and finished four books in four weeks

Josie:

  • Cooked new recipes 

  • Read Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts 

  • Actually walked the dog after work

  • Leaned into slower, calmer evenings without any screens

Results: 

The biggest shift wasn’t just less screen time, it was how we felt.

LK:

  • Felt more present with friends 

  • Saw a 10% drop in screen time after one month

  • More time for yoga, reading, and actual downtime

Josie:

  • Felt more present at home, she Bricks her phone right after work until the next morning

  • Saw an 8% drop in screen time after one month

  • Her scroll troll habits in bed? Basically gone

Goals Going Forward

We want to keep pushing our screen time down over the next four weeks. As big believers in data (very on brand for us at Chair 8), we’re tracking:

  • Which apps grab our attention most

  • How often we pick up our phones

  • Overall weekly screen time trends


Are we sticking with it? Absolutely.

Josie SmithChair 8Comment