Norma Makes an App Blocker You’ll Want on Your Desk

Modern social media is designed to be a magnet for your attention. What starts as a quick email check turns into an unintentionally long scroll on Instagram, and when you rip free of the feed, X is there with clips, posts, and vigorous discourse about them to distract you again.Waiting in a supermarket line, most people will reflexively check their social media apps, not to respond to a notification but simply as a source of dopamine to relieve that tiny gap of boredom — and though these platforms are fun and informative, there’s a threshold beyond which they just become frustrating and unproductive.The awareness of this has seeded a whole ecosystem of focus-centric devices — from overpriced dumb-phones to time-limiting apps and time-locked boxes — and the most compelling and stylish I’ve tried is Norma: a small, sleek glass and metal puck that sits on your desk. It’s a competitor to Brick — which has reportedly been widely embraced by the White House, despite their constant social media use — but Norma experience simply looks and feels much better.Meet Norma. A stainless steel disc that blocks the apps stealing your attention, one scan and your phone goes quiet. We're past pre-orders now, fast and free shipping with code FREESHIPPING.Order now at https://t.co/QzgLzQAcSj pic.twitter.com/KkMhXPn6TN— Norma (@nordotma) May 28, 2026Both devices work much the same way: you tap your phone to the disc and it locks or unlocks a set of preselected apps that you find distracting. The obvious use is for social media apps, but if you find yourself absent-mindedly flickering your inbox or banking app or calculator, you can block whatever apps you like, with multiple profiles for it, be that sleep, work, going out for a walk, or so forth. With your session started, Apple’s Screen Time app blocks your preselected apps and websites: not only can you not open them, but you won’t get notifications either. It also allows more complex, customized sessions, such as having it turn on your sleep setting at a preset time every night, unlocked with a tap in the morning. You can also start sessions with Siri, the iPhone Action button, or a widget, and if you have some urgent need to open an app when you’re away from the puck — or have lost it — the app gives you some emergency unlocks.It only works on Apple devices but, because it’s using Screen Time, that means it can work across devices, mobile and desktop. With its free Mac app installed, your laptop will also block certain chosen websites in every browser, at the network level, until the session ends. As someone who uses an iPhone Air but a Windows laptop, I wish they had a way to work on Windows too — say, by connecting to your router’s account and blocking them on the Wi-Fi network — but even on the phone alone, it’s useful.And the puck is just a pleasant item to have. Brick offers a similar feature suite, but it’s a little plastic cube. The Norma is a chic, small, 9.5-ounce disc machined from solid stainless steel. It can’t magnetically stick to surfaces like the Brick can, but you wouldn’t want to have the Brick out on your desk, whereas the Norma looks great on it. Also, like the Brick, because it uses an NFC tag, there’s no need to recharge it at all.Because it’s a nicer material, it’s also more expensive than Brick, which starts at $59, compared to $101 for the Norma — and American buyers may owe import duties and taxes on delivery, which aren’t included in that price. But it requires no subscription; the app experience and hardware are stylish and easy to use — and if this is the device that finally stops you from derailing your days on social media, surely that’s worth it.

Norma Makes an App Blocker You’ll Want on Your Desk

Norma Makes an App Blocker You’ll Want on Your Desk

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