Gen Z is working to overcome phone addiction using products that discourage impulsive doomscrolling—without requiring them to give up their phones entirely.
Amid the flood of videos pushing healthier eating, marathon training, and sobriety, a trend gaining traction with young people—ironically, on social media—is the digital detox: stepping away from phones’ most addictive apps to boost sleep, focus, and more.
This idea has spurred a wave of products helping users resist the urge to automatically grab their phones and scroll social media during every idle moment.
One company capitalizing on this is Bloom, maker of a $39 device created by two college students in 2024. The stainless steel Bloom card pairs with an app that lets users select which apps to block and when. They can also add one, two, or three five-minute breaks to use blocked apps. Tapping the card to a phone locks out blocked apps until the user taps it again.
Bloom cofounder Giancarlo Novelli, a UCLA senior, told the product helped him cut his own phone use and fix focus issues. He added Bloom can be a vital tool for young people given how severe phone addiction has become in recent years.
“In the 1900s, everyone was smoking cigarettes, and it was just normal, until the studies came out that it’s bad for you,” he said. “It takes time for these things to catch up, and I think it’s very similar for phone use.”
Short-form video apps like and TikTok—Novelli’s most-blocked apps—have only been around for a decade, he noted, and the impacts of their addictiveness (which he compares to a “slot machine in your pocket” due to the feel-good chemicals they trigger) haven’t been fully studied.
To be clear, research from the University of Alberta found many published studies link social media use to depression and anxiety—though this can depend on usage patterns.
Kristian Del Rosario, a 28-year-old personal injury lawyer and influencer in New York City, told her productivity has grown steadily since Bloom competitor Brick sent her its $59 product (the company didn’t pay her to promote it, though she shared a video about it earlier this month).
Del Rosario said she likes Brick because it creates a bigger barrier to opening her most-used apps instinctively—unlike iPhone’s Screen Time feature, which blocks apps until a passcode is entered. Having to tap her phone on the device to unlock apps helps her create physical distance and resist temptation when she needs to focus, she explained.
Brick founder TJ Driver told this separation between users and their phones turns automatic doomscrolling into a more conscious choice.
“By adding this extra moment of intentionality, Brick gives users a moment to decide whether they really want to open an app or stay present,” Driver said in a statement to .
Del Rosario also likes that the product lets her keep messages on to communicate with clients and turn the blocker off during breaks. It’s even helped her improve her bedtime routine.
“At night, instead of doom scrolling, it allows me to just kind of unwind because I can’t access the apps at all,” she said.
Bloom and Brick’s physical devices may also appeal to young people who are increasingly . From vinyl records to handwritten notes, Gen Z is turning to real-world alternatives to apps like or iMessage to cut screen time and reconnect with tangible experiences they may have missed.
The popularity of devices like Bloom and Brick comes as Instagram head Adam Mosseri has . In a recent trial against Meta (Instagram’s parent company)—where a 20-year-old plaintiff alleged social media addiction harmed her mental health—Mosseri distinguished between “clinical addiction” and “problematic” use.
Whether apps are addictive or not, Del Rosario said it’s clear young people struggle to reduce screen time even when they want to.
“Gen 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’s going on in the world that way,” she said.
Novelli plans to grow Bloom after graduating this year, including possibly expanding to laptops—another time-suck, he said, since people can get stuck in autoplay loops or endless binges without scrolling.
As app-blocking devices grow in popularity (Novelli said Bloom has sold over 60,000), questions remain about their effectiveness when buyers discover them online—and talk about them on social media. This disconnect has led some, like Slate contributing writer Alex Kirshner, to question if influencers promoting devices like Brick or Bloom are genuine.
“If I see an influencer post about how they’re so committed to never being on their phone, look at my Brick. I’m smelling bulls–t. I’m thinking this is made up because the fact that you’re doing it is kind of in contravention to this idea that you’re putting forward,” Kirshner in an episode of Slate’s internet culture podcast, In Case You Missed It (ICYMI).
Novelli, however, said social media isn’t the real issue. The problem is people automatically reaching for their phones to scroll all day. Social media is still a great communication tool—and, when used right, helps spread the word about cutting screen time, he added.
“There’s no problem with social media in regulation. The question is, how do you regulate it in the best way possible for yourself,” he said.