Every now and then we are all liable to stumble upon a pretty amazing discovery! I’m definitely not the first person to independently discover this, but it’s also definitely not well known.
So how did I reduce my weekly screen time 38% by one simple settings change?
On iPhone:
Settings->Accessibility->Display and Text Size->Color Filters
Then turn Color Filters “on” and selected Greyscale.
Just like that, after that simple change over the next full week, my screen time dropped like a rock. It was down close to 50% at some points, so I believe a 38% reduction is actually on the lower end of what’s achievable with this simple settings change. In fact, this drop in screen time happened in spite of my installation of an app towards the end of the week which I spent a considerable amount of time on. So without downloading that app, it probably would’ve been in the 42-45% range in screen time reduction versus color.
But why does this trick work so well? It’s simply that colors, are addictive! And whether we realize it or not, colors make us stay on digital devices for longer than would otherwise, such as with B&W screens.
Furthermore, “growth-hackers” use colors, such as colorful notifications to manipulate us into spending more time on their apps and websites. By turning our phones on greyscale, we fight back, these color-based psychology tricks no longer work. It’s simply grey or black or white.
What makes this simple trick so incredibly useful it we can still use our phones almost to their maximum utility with greyscale, it’s just that we use them less. You can still navigate traffic with GPS using greyscale (which I did, although it’s not totally optimal). You can still message friends back and forth and view pictures people send you. I just told some of my friends I made the settings change, so I can’t comment quite as much about photos without being able to see colors! But that’s an acceptable trade-off, to reduce unproductive screen time in my opinion. As I noticed the results, I never felt once, the desire to switch back to color!
I also believe that by making the digital world less appealing, with B&W, while the outside world remains vivid with colors, it’s a more healthy way to use digital devices. Let’s be honest, we’ve become too engrossed in the digital world, to the point of ignoring the physical world. People walking and falling due to them being so addicted to their phones.
Hope this trick works for you!
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