Bricking My iPhone Is My Tech ‘Upgrade of the Year’
My concentration is shot. I know this because I’ve checked my phone four times while writing this opening paragraph. I’m addicted to my phone in a way that feels both embarrassing and completely normal, which is perhaps the most damning part.
Upgrading by Downgrading
We tend to think of upgrades as adding features, but sometimes the real upgrade is eliminating. So I did something a little radical this year: I bricked my iPhone. Well, sort of.
What I actually did was take a middle path: demoting my smartphone, so it functions like a dumb phone while retaining genuinely useful features like navigation, ride shares, and FaceTime.
My Phone, My Rules
I turned on grayscale mode, which made my phone look as exciting as a filing cabinet. I deleted the time-consuming apps, turned off non-essential notifications, and started physically separating myself from my phone during focused work.
Out of sight, out of the dopamine loop. I’d be waiting somewhere and instead of reaching for my phone, I’d just look around, watch people, notice architectural details, and observe the weather shifting.
The Benefits of Bricking
Within two weeks, I noticed I could read for longer stretches, and my work as a creative improved. Deep work requires getting into a flow state, and by removing the interruption infrastructure from my phone, I suddenly had whole mornings where I could think clearly.
I’d had ideas in the shower again, real ideas, not just fragments borrowed from something I read online; I had original thoughts that surprised me, connections my brain made when it wasn’t being force-fed content.
A Bigger Picture
We frame phone usage as a personal responsibility issue, but that’s like blaming people for getting hooked on substances that were engineered to be addictive. Companies build their algorithms around persuasive technologies, and what they’re doing is turning your attention into profit.
My bricked iPhone is a downgrade in features and an upgrade in life quality. That’s the whole story, really.
The Bottom Line
If your phone feels like it owns you more than you own it, maybe your next upgrade isn’t a new model. Maybe it’s just making your current one a little more boring, a little less exciting, and a lot more brick-like.
Your brain will thank you for it.
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