Analog-obsessed Gen Zers are buying $40 app blockers to limit their social media use and take a break from the ‘slot machine in your pocket’

Gen Zers are trying to get over their phone addiction with the help of products that make it harder to impulsively doomscroll, while also allowing them to not throw their phone away entirely. 

Among the frenzy of videos promoting healthier diets, marathon running, and sobriety, one trend catching on with young people—ironically on social media—is the idea of a digital detox, taking time away from our phone’s most addictive apps to improve everything from sleep to focus. 

The idea has spawned a flurry of products which are helping their customers resist the temptation of automatically picking up their phone and scrolling social media during any and every lull in the day.

One company capitalizing on the trend is Bloom, the maker of a $39 device created by two college students in 2024. The stainless steel Bloom card is paired with an app that lets users choose which apps to block and during what time period. Users can also choose to add one, two, or three five-minute breaks when they can use the blocked apps. Once a user taps the card to their phone it locks them out of the blocked apps until they tap the card to their phone again. 

Bloom cofounder Giancarlo Novelli, a senior at UCLA, told Fortune the product helped him mitigate his own phone use and solve his focus problems. Bloom can be an important tool for young people because of just how bad phone addiction has gotten in the past several years, he added.

“In the ...