Another App to Help Limit App Usage? Seriously? - Beating the Algorithm
Also this week: Listening bars are taking off in London, French prosecutors probe X over alleged algorithmic bias, and more.
The Big Story - Feb 13, 2025
It should come as no surprise to readers of this page that we’re reaching for our smartphones too often. Quick refresher: In 2024, American millennials picked up their phones an average of 324 times each day (20 times per hour, every waking hour). Across all age groups, the average was 205 times.
We say we want to be looking at our devices less. We say we want to spend less time on them. Last year, 40% of Americans aimed to cut down on their smartphone use. Although 27% doubted they would succeed in doing so. This desire to reduce usage has increased significantly, with 53% of Americans wanting to cut down on phone usage in 2025.
But that’s not what’s happening. Device usage across all age groups from 2023 to 2024 increased over 40%.
To curb our ever increasing smartphone usage, a new crop of gadgets and apps are hitting the market. Gadgets that force us to lock away our connection to the world. Apps that give us a digital nudge to curb the other nudges. Technology is often nothing if not ironic, don’t you think?
Case in point: the “Back to Reality” phone-locking box. Drop your device in, twist a dial, and—poof—the device is “trapped” for a set amount of time. That means no doomscrolling, no TikTok challenges—and no dialing 911 in case of an emergency. The designers say it’s all good, use your newly found free time time to bond with friends and family, read a book, or stare at the box holding your device.
Not quite ready for physical abstinence? The idea for this column came after reading an article about an new app that locks your device after a certain amount of time, forcing users to walk around the block before it unlocks. That is, unless you’re being robbed or chased, in which case I assume you might run. Another app purports to erase all my carefully detailed productivity stats if I sneak a peek at Instagram. Or Forest, which “grows” a little virtual tree every time you focus instead of doomscroll. If you leave the app early, your beloved tree dies.
Apple and Google have attempted to take on this issue on the device itself, building screen-limit functions right into their operating systems. Users can set app limits and deliver pop-up warnings. Nice in theory, but just ask my kids—these are easy to override with a quick “ignore limit” tap, amateur hacking—even changing time zones. Accountability is overrated in the modern teenage mind.
So the big question: Do any of these things actually work? Short answer: sometimes. Melissa Hunt, a clinical psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, believes these tools can help people become more aware of their screen time. Mindfulness is a good start. But she also warns, “Technology solutions to technology problems are always going to be inherently problematic.” To me, that’s a polite way of saying, You won’t outrun your own impulses simply by downloading another app.
Maybe we’re chasing a dream hoping that the latest device or app can rescue us from ourselves. Like trying to lose weight by purchasing more cookbooks and kitchen gadgets, when maybe we just need to eat less ice cream (as I just finished off a hefty serving of Häagen-Dazs Salted Caramel). Or the $3,000 treadmill that ends up as a glorified coat rack. Humans are masters at ignoring the tools we buy to solve our self-made problems.
But here’s the flip side: If you’re already committed to cutting your screen time, these gadgets can be great reminders. A locked phone box might be enough friction to halt your reflexive impulses. An app that kills virtual trees when you cheat can make you mindful of the minutes ticking by. And maybe, for families, a robust parental-control tool like Qustodio is a lifeline against a tide of addictive social media.
Ultimately, though, the single biggest factor in ditching phone addiction is personal discipline. You’ve got to want to change, or no fancy digital contraption will save you. Technology alone won’t rewire our brains back to where they were before all this started. It can only block or annoy you into compliance. A determined person (or teenager) will always find a workaround.
So do we really need more apps and devices to curb our scrolling addictions? Probably not. But we keep buying them anyway. Because in an era where our phones play caretaker, motivator, entertainer, coworker, and date, it feels easier to let “tech” do the heavy lifting of self-control. It sure beats confronting our deeper compulsions head-on, right?
—L.A. Fatzinger
Salzburg, Austria. 13 February 2025
DID YOU KNOW? While LAF is skeptical, a member of our team has found a device which strikes a good balance of physical limitation without locking your phone in a box or—as she was tempted to do—throwing it in the ocean. Brick, a small, subscription-free, magnetic block that must be physically tapped to the user’s phone to allow or disallow selected apps, can turn your phone back into what it was originally intended to be: a useful tool. Far more effective than an app with simple bypasses, she finds it freeing to block social media, news, and other distractions; and even “Brick” herself out of everything except phone, maps, and music when she leaves home, to better live in the moment. Imagine—a “dumb phone” that can still provide directions. And your favorite podcast.
The News
The Kids Off Social Media Act Misses the Mark on Children’s Online Safety - Information Technology & Innovation Foundation - 6 Feb 2025
Instead of resorting to blanket bans or proposals that target core features of social media such as algorithms, Congress should pass legislation to establish a standardized child-flag system, giving parents and guardians greater control over their children’s online safety. Under this system, all users would be presumed adults unless marked as children, with platforms checking for this flag when accessing age-restricted content.
LAF adds: I expressed my skepticism on this legislation a couple of weeks ago, and this writer’s perspective offers even more reason to scrap this bill and start fresh with a bill that is practical on the technical level and will do some good for the youth in the United States.
French prosecutors probe Musk's X over alleged algorithmic bias - Reuters - 7 Feb 2025
The Paris prosecutor's office said it launched the investigation after being contacted on January 12 by a lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms in X were likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system.
LAF adds: In my view, this probe reflects a larger global concern that unregulated, opaque algorithms could quietly warp our civic spaces—an issue I’ve long critiqued in my writing on tech’s hidden (and growing) influences. As someone who believes our tools should serve human well-being first, it’s evident that much stronger transparency and accountability measures are needed to reign in social platforms.
Developer creates endless Wikipedia feed to fight algorithm addiction - ArsTechnica - 7 Feb 2025
For now, the feed is truly random, and Gemal is currently resisting calls to automatically tailor the stream of articles to the user's interests based on what they express interest in. "And I had to put my foot down and say something along the lines that we're already ruled by ruthless, opaque algorithms in our everyday life; why can't we just have one little corner in the world without them?"
LAF adds: In my view, WikiTok offers a refreshing departure from addictive social feeds by delivering random knowledge instead of relentlessly curated clickbait. It’s the best of both worlds. Gemal’s refusal to implement a sophisticated recommendation engine both admirable and sorely needed in today’s tech landscape.
Connecticut could put restriction on hours for when kids can use social media - CT Post - 11 Feb 2025
"It's about protecting them from addiction," Tong said in the Legislative Office Building. "Big companies, the biggest on earth, use addiction to get young people addicted because they are the most-valuable and long-term market and customers for any company."
LAF adds: It’s encouraging to see bipartisan efforts finally acknowledging that social media’s addictive design can harm kids just as much as substance abuse does. Yet laws alone can’t fully solve the problem: true change requires cultural awareness, parental vigilance, and a shift in how tech companies prioritize their youngest users’ well-being over profit.
Life[off]line
The rise of listening bars in London: where to drink to the vinyl revival - Wallpaper - 6 Feb 2025
The mood was set for the listening experience to become equal to the drinking experience, as such a mega sound system breathed new life into the perfectly curated selection of vinyl being played: giving it more soul, purpose, air and presence. Close your eyes for a second and it was like Miles Davis had come to play an intimate gig in north London for the night.
Editor/Commentator L.A. Fatzinger
Research/Technical Delilah Necrason