I had every intention of reading when I got into bed, but my e-reader wouldn’t power up. Instead, I launched Instagram because I’m Gen X and that’s where we watch TikTok. After 20 minutes, I was nearly done, except the last video wasn’t funny enough, so I needed one more.

By the time my gaze shifted two centimeters up to check the itty-bitty clock on my screen, a full 65 minutes had passed. Like everyone else on the planet, I was deeply disappointed in my lack of restraint against ye mighty smartphone and pledged to leave it in another room every night thereafter, which I did precisely zero times.

A few weeks later, a little white puck arrived in the mail. A representative from ScreenZen had sent me Halo, a $49 app-blocking device that creates a geofence (or “halo”) around any space you choose. The marketing angle is part of Halo’s brilliance. Blocking apps in the bedroom when you should be sleeping (or doing other bedroom activities) gets at a specific problem people have when it comes to exercising temperance with their devices.

The halo works by creating a geo-fence that blocks apps on your phone once you cross into the designated space around the device. You can set it to block apps 24/7 or during certain hours only, and you can choose which apps it blocks or allows. The radius of the geo-fence is adjustable, so it works for large and small bedrooms alike. I found one YouTuber who put a Halo in his car.