Brick Vs. Bloom Card: I Tested Both For My Screen Addiction, And The Winner Depends On You

pros and cons

Pros

• Better app than Brick.
• Easy app scheduling.
• Lower price.

Cons

• Continued to artifact apps aft my scheduled clip was over.
• Breaks conclusion nan intent of strictly curbing surface time.

I'm connected way to having spent 16 years of my life glued to my telephone screen. That's what Bloom, nan latest salve to telephone addiction, tells maine arsenic I create my account. 

16 years. According to my calculations, if I weren't attached to my phone's addictive mechanisms, I could person spent that clip moving 1,700 marathons, grabbing 2,900 cups worthy of java pinch friends, aliases adding 1 aliases 2 much hours of slumber to my nighttime each night. Instead, I scroll. 

And I'm not alone. 

Also: The guidelines exemplary Kindle is my concealed limb against doomscrolling - and it's connected sale

As telephone addiction becomes much wide -- and arsenic we study really societal media keeps america addicted -- much companies are coming up pinch solutions. Bloom is 1 of those companies that, for illustration nan celebrated Brick, developed a tap-able NFC-enabled paper that creates a beingness bound betwixt nan personification and their dopamine-triggering device. 

I've been utilizing nan Brick since October and person recovered it to beryllium a straightforward measurement to region distractions arsenic I work, leisure, and sleep. But it's not perfect. There are a fewer bugs, and nan app is rather minimalist. 

A friend of excavation and chap Brick personification told maine astir nan Bloom Card and gave maine 1 of his own. He said it addresses immoderate of nan Brick's flaws, truthful I tested it retired for a fewer weeks. 

Bloom vs. Brick

First things first: nan Bloom Card is $39, whereas nan Brick is $54. The amended action depends connected conscionable really addicted you are to your phone, arsenic I realized aft weeks of testing. 

In essence, nan Bloom Card does nan aforesaid point arsenic nan Brick. You pat your telephone to it, and it blocks distracting apps. The differences aboveground much done each respective app's software, arsenic nan hardware of an NFC-enabled paper aliases artifact is practically nan same. Bloom's app has a amended personification experience, though, pinch a Friends tab, for illustration that incorporated societal accountability.

Also: I bricked my iPhone to forestall doomscrolling - and accidentally fixed my life

You commencement by selecting nan apps you want to artifact and creating disabling schedules, a process I deliberation Bloom does better. Bloom has a dedicated tab for creating regimented schedules pinch default schedules are already created, truthful a batch of nan activity you'd person to do to put successful these schedules connected Brick is already handled for you. 

For example, there's a Morning Zen schedule you tin move connected from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. that I rather like, a Deep Work schedule from 10 a.m. to noon, and a Wind Down from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., among others. 

Within each schedule, you tin alteration aliases disable definite apps. If I move connected Deep Work, I tin alteration societal media apps during nan workday (as I usage them for my job) but disable messaging apps, which thin to distract me. For Wind Down, I disable societal media and messaging apps. 

Also: How I turned my regular tablet into a full-fledged e-reader (whether it's an iPad aliases Android)

Ironically, for a instrumentality that's meant to thief you disengage pinch your phone, nan app was very engaging. As I mentioned, there's a Friends tab wherever I tin way my attraction clip against my friends. You tin besides spot a Global leaderboard, wherever users are charting their attraction for up to 458 days done Bloom. Lastly, there's nan Insights feature, which displays your surface time, regular pickups, and attraction clip done Bloom. 

Why I (temporarily) deleted nan app

Nina Raemont/ZDNET

Tapping my telephone to nan NFC paper is easy and worked regularly without issues. However, an in-app correction forced maine to delete nan app for a fewer days. I had nan Morning Zen schedule enabled 1 morning, and it continued to artifact entree to my apps, moreover aft nan 9 a.m. cutoff. 

I did not person nan Bloom Card pinch maine to pat and alteration access, truthful I was locked retired for respective hours, forcing maine to delete nan Bloom app to usage these apps. This has happened pinch nan Brick arsenic well, and it seems to beryllium a bug crossed these devices. When I reviewed Brick, I mentioned nan akin scheduling bug. 

Also: I recovered 4 tech gadgets that really helped maine slumber amended (and ditch nan alarm)

There is 1 point Bloom has that Brick doesn't: breaks. Bloom allows you 3 five-minute breaks each session, a characteristic that was awesome astatine first, but I ended up abusing nan characteristic each clip I was successful a Bloom session. It made nan full constituent of preventing doomscrolling counterproductive. 

This could possibly thief pinch personification who doesn't person arsenic bad of a telephone addiction (or much aforesaid control), but considering that nan target assemblage of products for illustration Brick and Bloom are phone-addicted people, it seems for illustration it could further alteration bad habits. 

The Brick is acold stricter, and I dream nan Brick ne'er offers up breaks because of nan counter-productivity of this Bloom feature. 

ZDNET's buying advice

So, at $39, is nan Bloom worthy it? If you deliberation you won't maltreatment that five-minute break feature, I'd urge Bloom complete Brick. If you are successful dire request of cutting surface time, I'd spell for Brick instead for its somewhat stricter return and little engaging app.

Bloom does a batch of nan activity of building schedules for you to easy enable, but it's a spot much lenient successful ways I find antagonistic productive for curbing a superior lawsuit of telephone addiction. However, it's nan cheaper action compared to Brick, truthful I'd still urge it to anyone connected a budget.