It’s one of the simplest changes you can make. It’s an essential practice for every device I use (phone, computer, tablet watch). Its benefits are the impetus for devices like Remarkable and LightPhone’s decisions to build an e-ink screen.
Turning your screen to grayscale (black and white) turns off the seductive allure of its design. Our brains are enthralled with color, variation, and luminosity. Think of the maximalist Candy Crush, with its addictive explosions and vibrant characters, and realize your devices are engineered to create the same neural links. Time-on-device is the goal that consumes the minds of those in Silicon Valley. As may have noted, you are hopeless to think mere willpower is sufficient to resist the combined attentions of super-computers and techno-capitalism. We need practices. We need control.
Turning your phone to grayscale for the first time is involved enough that your non-trivial effort can stick. It’s non-invasive enough to not warrant attention from your limbic system. It’s noticeable enough that you catch yourself before scrolling, zoning, clicking the next grayed-out link.
Our lives are not meant to be lived within the four corners of an Apple product. The change the world needs is sometimes restrained by one person’s inability to put their phone down long enough to see their calling. Take this moment to protect your future-self’s time. Stop what you’re doing and turn your phone to grayscale.
