How ‘Bricking’ Your Phone Improves Your Concentration

You know the feeling. You sit down to work on something important, and within minutes your hand reaches for your phone. Maybe it buzzed. Maybe not. Either way, you’re suddenly immersed for 20 minutes in Instagram Reels or scrolling through news you’d rather not read. When you finally look up, your concentration is broken and you don’t really remember what you were doing in the first place.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The average American now spends more than six hours a day staring at screens, with much of that time spent mindlessly scrolling on smartphones. I don’t go a day without lamenting my “phone addiction” and my disappearing attention span.

If smartphones are the problem, it seems the solution might be to eliminate all the features that make your phone so “smart.” That’s why, for a growing number of people, dumb phones are making a comeback. And no, it’s not just nostalgia for the clunky aesthetic of the early 2000s. People are ditching their iPhones and Androids for basic flip phones and minimalist devices that do little more than make calls and text as a solution to our digital noise problem. But the question remains: Does switching to a dumb phone actually save your ability to focus, or is it just another wellness trend that seems better in theory than in practice?

What is a stupid phone?

A dumb phone is exactly what it sounds like: a phone that only handles basic communications. Think calls and texts, maybe a rudimentary camera, but no app stores, no social media feeds, and no endless rabbit holes of content. These minimalist devices harken back to the pre-smartphone era, when phones had one primary purpose, rather than the full entertainment centers we can’t live without today.

While traditional flip phones and basic handsets do the trick, many people today find a creative happy medium by “bricking” their smartphones, using settings like grayscale mode, deleting apps, and removing colored icons to make their devices as boring and utilitarian as possible. The goal is to reduce screen time and improve concentration.

But if you’re like me, the idea of ​​giving up your phone seems futile. How could I go about my daily life without Maps, TikTok or Candy Crush? Do dumb phones make a big difference to your brain health?

What the science says

The problem with smartphones is more than anecdotal. Studies have shown that smartphone notifications, even those you don’t check, harm cognitive performance. Interruptions force your brain to work faster at the expense of accuracy, and it takes a long time to fully reintegrate a task after being distracted. A 2017 study published in the University of Chicago Press found that simple presence Smartphone use can reduce cognitive abilities, a phenomenon researchers call the “brain drain” effect.

So let’s say you upgrade to a dumb phone that eliminates push notifications, infinite-scrolling feeds, and, well, the mere presence of a smartphone. Is your concentration returning?

The answer is yes, according to the same researchers from this 2017 study. This year, they published a study involving 467 participants, aged 18 to 74, who agreed to block the Internet from their smartphone for just two weeks. The researchers measured three different outcomes: well-being, mood and attention at the beginning, middle and end of the study. 91% of participants improved their scores in at least one category, mainly in the “subjective well-being” category. Regarding attention specifically, the researchers write that “reducing a constant possibility of distraction allows people to practice focusing on one activity or stimulus at a time, and increases the relative reward of focusing one’s attention on activities other than their phone.” This harks back to a pattern all too familiar to smartphone users: the cycle of instant gratification.

In a similar vein, according to Dr. Shawn DuBravac, author of “Digital Destiny: How the New Age of Data Will Transform the Way We Work, Like, and Communicate,” switching to a dumb phone is “really just a behavioral design hack.” DuBravac says, “You don’t change your brain, you change your environment so your brain can do what it does best: focus.” »

Not everyone needs to make the complete switch, and for some people, it’s just not practical. Dr. Nidhi Gupta, an expert in digital wellness with a TEDx talk on the topic, says switching to a dumb phone alone may not improve your focus, but changing your lifestyle will. She points out that if you ditch your smartphone but still have a smartwatch, tablet, or laptop nearby, the distractions will simply migrate. “The brain will continue to seek dopamine from any available screen.” Again, what matters is breaking the cycle of instant gratification.

Brick your smartphone instead

Gupta advocates a middle path: “downgrade” your smartphone so that it functions like a dumb phone while still retaining useful features like navigation, carpooling, and FaceTime. Its recommendations include enabling grayscale mode (“It’s amazing how boring your phone gets when it looks like an old newspaper”), deleting time-consuming apps, turning off non-essential notifications, and physically separating your phone during focused work.

I spoke with three Brooklyn-based twenty-somethings who suffered from concentration problems and phone addictions. Two of them chose to brick their smartphones rather than switching to dumb phones altogether.

Sam Schaefer, 28, found that removing app colors and logos made a big difference. “It immediately reduced my screen time significantly, but more than anything, it really stopped me from mindlessly clicking through apps,” he says. “Making it a black screen with letters really took away the desire to mindlessly click.”

Isa León, 26, had similar results. “Like everyone else, I’m addicted to bright colors and notifications, but now everything looks the same. When I have to take a moment to read the name of the app, I think about what I’m doing instead of following my dopamine.” Today, his screen time is reduced by two hours. “That shows you how stupid my scrolling was.”

Michael Gebhardt, 31, a professional photographer and videographer, tried to use a stupid phone but had to backtrack. “A smartphone is unfortunately necessary to respond quickly to customers and it makes the difference between confirming a concert or missing it.” The middle path was the middle path for him.

The essentials

The consensus among experts and users is clear: limiting smartphone functionality can significantly improve concentration. Whether you use a completely stupid phone, brick your existing device, or simply turn off notifications and use Do Not Disturb mode, science shows that fewer interruptions lead to sharper focus, better memory, and reduced stress.

Science backs it up, but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. You just need to be more intentional about when and how you use it. Whether it’s buying a flip phone, enabling grayscale mode, or simply keeping your smartphone out of sight during work hours, the goal is the same: reclaiming your attention from the endless digital noise.