Which attention tool is right for you?
There’s no shortage of tools today that promise to fix your relationship with phones and devices. With so many options, it’s hard to choose which one is right for you. I’ve tried most of them, and I can share which ones worked for me, which ones didn’t, and why.
I’ve worked as a designer for over 15 years, which means it’s very important that the tools I use allows me to create a healthy environment on my computer and phone. Over the years, I’ve tried deleting apps, switching to dumb phones, installing time blockers, tracking my screen time and installing extensions. Each of these tools have strengths and weaknesses.
What clear to me, is that most attention tools aren’t really competing. They’re solving entirely different layers of the same problem. Some focus on limiting access, others on measuring behaviour, and some attempt to reshape the environment itself.
And choosing the right tool depends on how you use your devices, what you define as a distraction, and where friction appears in your day.
Hard blockers: clear rules for a noisy world
If your problem is spending too much time on your phone, scrolling social media, then hard blockers can be incredibly effective.
Tools like Opal, Freedom, and AppBlock allow you to set schedules and daily time limits on your phone for distracting applications. When you attempt to open or access these platforms during a schedule or when you’ve reached your daily time limit, you will hit a block. You can override these rules, but you’re forced to wait for 30 seconds or so before continuing.
This is useful for deep work sessions. The pause while it might seem small, it helps break the autonomous cycle of opening the app and drifting. That moment of reflection can be powerful.
If you’re mostly consuming short-form content on platforms like TikTok or Instagram, and that’s the majority of your concern, then these are a great option for you to try. However, if you’re using a computer, this isn’t the right solution. Tools like Opal and Freedom all claim to sync across devices, but in reality they don’t. And if you like to consume long-form content, like YouTube videos from your phone or computer, then there are massive trade-offs with these tools.
Long-form and short-form content are fundamentally different experiences, yet blockers treat everything the same. They are time-based, they limit access, but they don’t change the environment itself. Which means when you reach your daily limit, they remove access to all content, even enriching content that promotes depth. And when the block lifts, assuming you do not bypass it, you will be returning to the same distracting environment. The autoplay, recommendations, and infinite scroll are ubiquitous.
Tracking tools: awareness without direction
Screen-time dashboards and analytics tools reveal patterns of use. How much time am I spending in this platform? And at what time during the day am I spending this time?
If you’re concerned about short-form consumption on apps like Instagram and TikTok, then time can be a useful metric to track and benchmark against.
But these tools only tell as part of the story. Time on its own is a shallow metric. One hour spent reading or learning a new skill isn’t the same as one hour of drifting through fragmented clips, yet these tools treat them the same. They measure time in the platform, not the type of content you’re consuming or the depth of your attention. Are you reading a full article or skimming headlines? These are very different experiences.
Tracking shows you what is happening, but it doesn’t change how the system meets you. The feed looks the same and the autoplay continues. The environment hasn’t changed, only your awareness of it has.
Analog friction: slowing the reflex
Physical tools like Brick or Blok add another layer of defence to the rules you set. These are great for people who want stronger boundaries when willpower is low.
You set limits for distracting apps and leave the key at home, or in another room of the house. So even if you want to unlock the apps, you physically cannot.
But again, they only focus on time. You will lose access to everything within the platforms you choose. If your goal is to reduce short-form consumption on your phone, then this is probably the best solution for you.
These don’t work with computers, and as soon as you go back to the distracting applications on your phone, they remain untouched. The dark design patterns are back, and you’re scrolling through them.
This group is essentially the same as hard blockers, only by introducing a physical barrier they can be more effective for some users.
I found myself carrying the brick with me when I was out, because the block was too extreme, which led to softer boundaries. But when I was home, placing it in another room was much more effective than digital blockers.
Dumb phones and minimalist devices: subtraction as clarity
For some people, full disconnection feels like the only answer. They want messaging, calls and some of the other rudimentary apps. There are options like the Nothing phone, Light phone or reverting back to an old flip phone. You have much fewer apps, notifications, and distractions.
I tried a dumb phone and my phone usage drastically dropped. The experience was so bad, that I just didn’t want to use it. Good, right?
Not necessarily. I found myself constantly relying on others to do tasks for me. Hey can you look this up quickly? How do we get here? Is there a good place to eat nearby? Can you book the uber? Ultimately I didn’t last long. I needed banking apps, Uber, Facetime and Google Maps, among others.
Personally, I prefer lighter forms of disconnection. I often switch my phone off in the evening and only switch it back on after a few hours in the morning. Waking up without devices and reading in the morning has a big impact on my mood and focus throughout the day.
Occasional distance is healthy, but I don’t think most people can realistically unplug anymore. Our work, relationships and learning have become so intertwined with technology. So much of our lives runs through these systems now.
If you are considering a dumb phone, first try a digital blocker and change your phone settings to grayscale. This will help you reduce the time you spend on your phone, without saying goodbye to all the important apps.
Delete the apps. Use browser extensions.
For me, this was a huge breakthrough! I deleted the distracting apps and started to access these platforms through the browser.
Why is this important? Because apps are closed systems, essentially black boxes. You can’t see what’s happening inside, or reach into the platform and hide the distracting parts. With browsers, you can reach in and hide the feeds, recommendations or prevent autoplay. Extensions don’t just block or limit, they allow you to reshape the platforms through the browser.
Here are some of the extension I recommend:
- Unhook or DF Tube to remove YouTube recommendations
- News Feed Eradicator hides suggestions
- LeechBlock or StayFocusd for scheduling and limits
- uBlock Origin for hiding specific interface elements
These tools come with some limitations. Firstly, most mobile browsers do not support full extension environments. And secondly, there isn’t a single extension that provides me with all the features I need. So I end up juggling multiple extensions on my computer, and then am forced to use a blocker on my phone, which means I can’t reshape the environment on my phone.
If your concern is mostly with computer use, then this is a great place to start. If you would like a single set of rules that sync between your computer and phone, this isn’t it.
Where the existing tools stop
After trying all of these tools and methods, a pattern started to appear.
Hard blockers limit access by time. Dashboards provide awareness of time spent. Physical tools add more friction but focus on time. Dumb phones remove almost everything. Browser extensions allow you to reshape the environment.
Each approach solves something real. But none bring all of these layers together in one place. None combine environment design with scheduling and time limits, and none truly share the same rules across phones and computers.
The moment you switch devices, the environment resets. The feeds, autoplay, suggestions and infinite scroll creep back in.
That doesn’t make these tools wrong, it reveals the gaps that exist between.
Most tools help you step away from the system. None help you reshape how the system meets you, everywhere you use it.
The Algoasis perspective: shaping the environment itself
Algoasis was built as a response to these gaps.
Instead of adding another blocker or dashboard, Algoasis approaches the problem differently. It treats attention as an environment, something that can be shaped, shared, and redesigned across the devices you already use. Environment design, scheduling, blocking, and shared rules all become part of one system that works across your phone and computer.
Right now, it only works in Safari. We believe everyone should have access to this kind of control but for now, Safari is the only place we can build it right. It’s the only ecosystem that allows deep modification of how sites behave while maintaining secure, private cross-device sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Your rules apply everywhere, even in private browsing mode.
Instead of only blocking access, Algoasis reshapes how platforms appear and behave. When you reach a limit, it doesn’t just shut the door. It redirects you toward your goals. Over time you begin to see not just how long you spend online, but what kind of content is shaping your attention. It recognises patterns of drift, when you drop in and out of content too quickly, and can suggest breaks before fatigue builds.
So if you move between phone and computer, want to reduce short-form fragmentation without losing long-form content, and believe technology should support depth rather than pull you away from it, this approach will make sense for you.
Algoasis doesn’t try to remove the internet.
It changes how it meets you.
