Have you heard all the chatter about “friction-maxxing”? It’s an achingly 2026 phrase, but the concept behind it is simple. In our lives of endless convenience, friction-maxxing means adding barriers (or friction) back into everyday tasks – for our own good. Coined in a story on The Cut as a strategy for parenting (without relying on screens), the theory is that everything becoming exponentially easier – from buying groceries to entertaining ourselves – is actually bad for us. Rather than “building up tolerance for inconvenience”, we’ve learnt to automatically go for the easiest, quickest option; even though, if we paused to think about it, we might not.
The first time I noticed I was being suckered by convenience was when I caught myself using my phone calculator to work out 600 divided by eight. When the answer popped up (75, as I’m sure you know) I felt a deep shame, because if I’d stopped for a second I know I’d have got there myself. This was something I learnt to do before I turned 10! I even liked maths at school. And yet I had opened the app and typed it in before I realised what I was doing. It didn’t matter that I then took the time to do another sum to prove I could still think. I felt so embarrassed at my smooth-brained existence.
I began noticing it everywhere in my life – always opting for the self-scanning checkouts, letting the algorithm decide what to watch on Netflix, ordering everything (medicine, cleaning products, a single onion) online, and immediately opening social media at any lull in conversation. Even wearing my headphones on public transport: was I enjoying my podcast or avoiding the awkward friction of potentially talking to a stranger? These habits are all the result of technological advancements but I suspect that, at least for me, they aren’t making my life better.
I was feeling disconnected from the people around me, constantly overstimulated by social media, resentful of my inability to just sit in silence; instead, filling the void with inane YouTube videos I was barely watching. A lot of the problem rested with how I was using my phone – with a screentime average of max 3.5 hours a day on my phone (not including laptop or TV time) I was doing well by population standards, but I could feel it sapping all my attention with less and less of a reward.
So over the past year, I have been trying to friction-maxx with varying degrees of success. Some habits stuck (like walking the dog without headphones), others were quickly dropped (the weekly shop at our Big Sainsbury’s, while fun, was exhausting), but in the end I found there was one solution that made everything else feel possible. As a result, I am feeling so much more calm and content in everyday life – even the brain fog I associated with modern life has begun to lift.
The Brick, a small plastic square that is magnetised and sits on my fridge at home, and in my bag at work, has piled friction into my life in the best way, enabling and encouraging all of my other habits. It has, perhaps ironically, gone viral on social media leading to the New York Times raving that the device has made “their brain feel much better” and over 25,000 five-star reviews.
The small grey square enables you to block access to any of the apps on your phone (to “brick” it) every time you tap your phone against the physical object. To regain access you have to tap it again. In effect, you can stop yourself from accessing all the distractions you fall into on your phone, while still being able to use your phone for whatever key services you select (maps, messaging and so on). I use mine to block access to social media during work hours, and all distractions during sleep hours. It has fundamentally changed how I use my phone.
The reason why Brick works is specifically because it is a physical object that requires physical intervention to brick or unbrick your phone. Screentime reminders on your phone, or apps like Forest or Opal which gamifies focus, are easy to bypass or ignore. With the Brick you have to get up, go to the kitchen and tap your phone. You can’t just mindlessly open the app. Even if your Brick is just in your bag (as it is for me at work), the act of leaning down and digging it out forces you to be aware of what you’re doing. It’s that friction that, in all honesty, harnesses your shame about your impulse to scroll social media slop and stops you in your tracks.
The Brick has made me far more intentional in my approach to everyday life, actually. The friction has disrupted my compulsive phone scrolling behaviour and enabled me to add other kinds of friction back into my life in many other ways.
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Instead of avoiding eye contact and shutting people out with headphones, I just sit and let my thoughts meander on public transport. I thought I’d struggle but I actually found the process peaceful. Sure, sometimes it means listening to a baby cry but sometimes it also means getting to make a baby smile with your stupid faces. Rather than scrolling my phone on dog walks, I pay attention and am able to see all her stupid, gleeful gambols through the fallen leaves. I have little conversations with baristas or strangers in the office kitchen, and get reminded that, for the most part, everyone is kind and muddling through life just like you. At work, I am better able to focus on the tasks I must do but would really rather not. When I’m bored, I try to entertain myself via analog means: doodling, going for a little walk, picking up a knitting project. I read before bed every night and I’ve even blocked my calculator, to force my brain to do those simple sums I have learnt to avoid.
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I’ll admit it feels strange to have to pay over £50 for a little grey square in order to control my use of a bigger black rectangle that I paid significantly more for. But unlike locking your phone in a safe or using a “dumbphone”, regaining all your smartphone access is actually very easy (just a walk down the corridor away). But unlike before, I am consciously choosing when I am scrolling through the content mulch and no longer feel like my attention is being manipulated. I am no longer coasting but choosing where I focus my energy. It has reintroduced intention into my daily life.
Perhaps more excitingly, it’s reminded me of all the great things we take for granted in modern technology: maps, instant connection, access to information, so much music. Rather than lamenting modern life (a fun and common hobby) I feel grateful for the capabilities that technology has brought me. I get to enjoy them and make my life easier without feeling like I’m missing out on the fundamentals that make life more joyful – a bit of delayed gratification, purpose, and connection to the world and the people in it. That reminder, together with a more friction-filled life, is something I will happily pay a lump sum for.
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