I tried this screen time-lowering hack for 2 weeks to help decrease the time I spent on my phone. It worked, but with a few frustrations.
I’m part of the generation that grew up with smart devices and phones.
But all the time lost on devices in my youth and into adulthood has turned into something like resentment toward my phone.
And overuse has been associated with serious physical and mental health consequences, which is why a couple of months ago, when one of my coworkers mentioned setting your phone to grayscale, my ears perked up.
This setting supposedly helps you spend less time on your phone because the brain craves color and sees phone usage as rewarding due to dopamine stimulation. So depriving it of color should suck some of the fun out of using a phone.
In other words, this hack should be perfect for me.
Health and wellness touch everyone’s lives differently. The evidence of benefits in this article is strictly informational and anecdotal and should not be considered medical advice.
Over the years, I’ve tried lots of ways to unplug.
While I have a social media profile on most of the major platforms, I don’t keep these apps downloaded on my phone and only allow myself to use the browser version (this truly does help me use social media less).
I also keep my phone silenced at all times and set screen time limits for apps that I may doomscroll on (with the exception of Pinterest).
To avoid bedtime distractions or midnight disturbances, I only allow notifications from certain contacts to come through between set hours.
All of these practices help me get off my phone. To give you an idea of their impact on my usage, here’s my screen time over the past few weeks:
- April 13 to April 19: 4 hours and 22 minutes
- April 20 to 26: 3 hours and 15 minutes
- April 27 to May 3: 2 hours and 48 minutes
This range is pretty representative of my digital habits, but it’s definitely been above 5 hours before.
I recommend looking up how to switch your phone to black and white (I had to), as it may not be intuitive in the settings app. Plus, how to toggle this feature differs depending on your phone model.
Once my phone was in grayscale, I noticed it impacted the readability of some text, so I also set my phone to a higher contrast to help reduce eyestrain. If you have a vision impairment, however, this hack may not be suitable for you.
Immediately, it felt strange looking at my phone and seeing only black and white instead of a deluge of color. Something about it felt almost sad — my wallpapers didn’t spark the same joy as they usually do.
I opened social media (the web browser version), and, in all honesty, it felt lackluster. I never realized how much my brain relied on color for locating and using apps.
My eyes knew the color that things were supposed to be, and my brain was trying its best to fill them in, but it couldn’t.
After just a few minutes, I closed the browser, so I knew that this hack was already in action.
Fast stats
- Average screen time: 2 hours and 45 minutes
- High: 4 hours and 30 minutes
- Low: 1 hour and 20 minutes
- Do I think it worked?: Yes
My first week’s average was 2 hours and 45 minutes — pretty good, in my opinion!
However, I wouldn’t say these decreases occurred solely because of grayscale. I attended a few social gatherings and tried to avoid using my phone during them, which may have affected the data.
I did notice I spent less time scrolling on Pinterest, where I usually turn to for recipe, fashion, craft, and decor inspiration, and YouTube Shorts.
On Pinterest, it was hard to tell which meals actually looked appetizing sans color, and I couldn’t assess the color schemes of anything else.
This frustrated me a little bit (to the point where I considered changing my phone back to color a few times). I use Pinterest for creative purposes, and it’s hard to be creative if I only see black and white.
YouTube is an app that I tend to spend excessive time on. It usually contributes to the majority of my screen time. But I barely touched YouTube this first week, spending only 57 minutes on it total.
However, I simply transferred how much time I typically spend on YouTube to LinkedIn instead. As it turns out, I don’t need color to want to use this app.
Still, the overall numbers don’t lie, and I would say it was a pretty successful first week.
Week 1 pros:
- reduced enjoyment from using my phone for mindless scrolling
- helped reduce screen time for the most part
Week 1 cons
- had trouble determining if my wifi, data, and flashlight settings were on
- may not be suitable for those with vision impairments
- pictures weren’t as joyful
Fast stats
- Average screen time: 2 hours and 27 minutes
- High: 3 hours and 27 minutes
- Low: 1 hour and 9 minutes
- Do I think it worked?: Yes
I started the week looking forward to the end of this challenge solely so I could use Pinterest again.
But as the week came to an end, I didn’t miss going on Pinterest as much as I thought I would, and I didn’t spend any time on YouTube.
When the challenge was over, I found I didn’t mind having my phone in black and white that much. I even considered keeping it in black and white a little longer.
Perhaps I was getting used to grayscale, but I wasn’t desensitized to its effects. My screen time for week 2 is proof: only 2 hours and 27 minutes, which is down from week 1.
Even my low, 1 hour and 9 minutes, was a number I hadn’t seen in quite some time.
But it was frustrating to show people pictures and give my opinion on a shirt color when others asked for it, given that all the options looked the same.
Again, I can’t honestly claim that the decrease was solely due to the lack of color. Lots of other factors might have played a role, including having a busy weekend of dog sitting.
Week 2 pros
- not as bothersome by the end of the week
- helped reduce screen time
Week 2 cons
- hard to send and receive pictures
- not every app is equally as dull (I still went on LinkedIn)
If I ever have a day or week where I know I’m spending far too much time on my phone, I would definitely try this hack again. I also highly recommend that others try it (if you don’t have a vision impairment). The data simply was too good to deny.
I won’t be keeping my phone in grayscale permanently, though. It’s more of a short-term fix.
Besides, if I were to leave my phone in grayscale long term, I feel that it would eventually become less effective as I get used to using it without color.
Other tips to help reduce screen time
- Set time limits on apps.
- Switch to a “dumb” phone, which is a phone that can only be used to call and text (remember those early 2000s flip phones?).
- Schedule time into your day away from your phone.
While my experience using Pinterest with a grayscale phone was lackluster, it’s not an essential app, and I can find other ways to inspire creativity that aren’t phone-based.
And anyway, the point of doing this was to lower my total screen time, which it did.
Overall, my phone was less distracting, less rewarding, and just less fun. I would turn my phone to grayscale again, but I wouldn’t keep it in black and white permanently.
