Could this app help cure phone addiction?

By Imogen Howse

An entrepreneur who used to miss plans with friends because he was too busy doomscrolling has made a new app to help tackle phone addiction.

Mario Ortiz Manero, 24, says he first noticed he was spending too much time on his phone in May 2024, when he was struggling with some personal issues.

Initially, he turned to the device in search of comfort and distraction, but things escalated and he was soon spending hours and hours on social media apps like Instagram.

Mario, who is from Zaragoza, Spain, but now lives in Munich, Germany, said his addiction got so bad that he would miss plans with friends because he had lost track of time while doomscrolling.

He tried a few existing solutions to combat the addiction, such as turning off notifications or setting screen time limits, but nothing worked as he hoped.

So, Mario decided to create his own solution - and bravely quit his stable job at Lyft to create a 'doomscroll-curing' app called Speedbump.

Mario said: "I was going through a difficult time and I started scrolling too much. I would mean to just check my phone for a minute - and then suddenly I had spent hours on Instagram.

"Sometimes, I would have time between work and meeting friends and so I would go on my phone.

"But I'd end up doomscrolling for hours and it would be to late to go to the plan.

"Then it creates a cycle. I would feel bad, and I'd want to scroll more.

"I tried a few things to help. I'd set screen time limits, but it would be too easy to just extend them.

"Or, I'd delete the apps, but I'd redownload them because I'd miss chatting to friends.

"Or I'd get rid of one app and then simply spend more time on a different app because of this need to be on my phone.

"So I decided there needed to be a new way to tackle this."

Mario, who studied a computer science degree at university, first looked into building an entirely new phone - which would be designed to minimise screen time.

However, he later settled on an app that would encourage people to stop doomscrolling.

In November 2024, he quit his job at Lyft, where he worked in partnerships and bookings, and decided to solely focus on Speedbump.

Mario said: "I'm aware of the irony. When I tell people, 'I'm building an app to help people use their phone less', they'll go - 'hang on, how does that work?'

"But the people who I'm targeting are the people who are on their phones - so it makes sense to go to them.

"I'm not promising to solve phone addiction. If I was trying to do that, I would need to become a therapist.

"But I want to build a tool that helps people reduce their doomscrolling.

"From my research, it seems that if tools like this are too strict - a.k.a. they don't let you spend any time on your phone - people just disable them.

"Equally, if they're too lax - people just ignore them.

"So I've tried to find a middle ground."

Speedbump works, Mario says, by essentially "annoying users as much as possible" when they exceed their screen time.

A person will specify to Speedbump which apps they find addictive - such as Instagram and TikTok - and then whenever they go to open them, Speedbump will ask them how long they want to spend on them.

If they choose just 30 seconds, perhaps because they want to respond to a message, Speedbump will allow them to access the app and then create popups once the time is up.

Mario said: "I'm trying to make staying on the app as annoying as possible - but also keeping it comedic.

"Some people get dancing cats overlaid on their screen - others get the 'screen time police'.

"And there is no way to extend the time limit."

If the person chooses a longer time period like 15 minutes or an hour, because they want to scroll, Speedbump first makes them wait for a certain amount of time before they access the app.

Mario said: "The longer you want to use the app for, the longer you have to wait before it unlocks.

"I think this is important because a lot of us will pick our phone up - just because it's muscle memory - and then before we know it we're scrolling.

"We don't really want to be doing that. But it's like a blackhole.

"So this step makes you think twice. Do I actually want to go on the app?

"If the person still does, they'll be allowed on for that amount of time. But then the popups start again once the time is up."

Another touch of irony associated with Mario's new app is that, in trying to tackle phone addiction, he is being forced to spend more time on his phone.

He said: "Now that I'm trying to market the app - I'm having to spend a lot of time on TikTok because that's where everything is now.

"I'm having to scroll for market research, but then naturally, I'm ending up scrolling through things that have nothing to do with my business.

"So it's a struggle.

"But again, the people I'm targeting are the people spending a lot of time on TikTok.

"So that's where I need to be."

Mario so far has an initial version of the app available on Android - which he has received positive feedback for.

He is in the process of launching a version for iOS and hopes this will be available by the summer.

You can find out more about Speedbump here.