I turned my phone screen to Grayscale for a week. And it was…
Being part of a remote company, it gets difficult to separate the private and work life. Work technically consumes my phone, compensating the time for any face-to-face interaction.
Call me old school, but I do believe the power in offline presence. It could be as simple as watching tv together and making funny comments, having conversations over dinner, getting competitive in board games to even staying silent during road trips. Despite all that, I got to admit that I do get a sudden gush of joy whenever I see my screen light up at the glimpse of a new notification. The sad truth is written by Sherry Turkle in her book Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age:
“Every time you check your phone in company, what you gain is a hit of stimulation, a neurochemical shot, and what you lose is what a friend, teacher, parent, lover, or co-worker just said, meant, felt.”
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I hate conversing online, but I wanted to experiment with different ways I can get a digital detox from time-to-time.
So how is grayscaling your screen doing anything?
A recent article by Former Design Ethicist at Google and founder of non-profit Time Well Spent, Tristan Harris states that technology is made to be addictive. He made an observation that app icons itself are made to be click baits because of its vibrant colours, just like how vibrant slot machines are designed.
One of his recommendations was to turn your phone’s screen grayscale to mute all the colours competing against each other for our attention.
And so, I did a short experiment. A week with my phone in grayscale versus another week with my phone in it’s normal setting. Within the first few engagements, I could tell that I grew a disinterest towards my phone. Instagram gets boring, games are unplayable, and notifications became less jarring.
To track my screen time, I used an app called Moment. It showed that turning off my phone to grayscale reduced my average screen time to over 9 hours in a week than my normal rate! Phew!
Here are a few observations I found when during the experiment:
1. Vision Issues
During my first few hours of switching my phone, I did find it hard to adjust my vision and see only blacks and whites. Transitioning from my screen to real life objects became really weird. Why so? My assumption is that our eyes needs some extra effort to adjust from viewing something in black and white to colours.
In addition to the side-effects to your vision, it does make your eyes tired easily. This actually complements the fact that you are trying to avoid using your phone as much.
2. Goodbye online shopping, games, and social media
Yep. None of that no more. I did not go far for the experiment to find out how it affects my buying habits. However, I could tell you that items promoted online doesn’t sound as appetizing as it was before. A simple example for me is watching the infinite amount of make up tutorials on Instagram. It’s hard to picture how it’ll look on your face when everything buffed to a person’s face is in grey tones.
The same goes to posting on social media and playing games. Funny how colours play a significant role in our lives. Take all those colours away, and all becomes boring and bleak.
3. Chat focused
Even though a lot of the colours are cut out, chat still functions the same way. That’s what I like most about staying in grayscale. It mutes down notifications without hindering you from keeping yourself updated with work related items. Whenever chats get too intense, it is always good to get on a quick call (meaning less screen time).
4. Moves to other devices for redemption
Now this I’m not too sure whether it is a positive or negative. During the experiment, I do find myself reaching out for alternatives of my phone. I tend to make sure that business and work conversations happen on my desktop/laptop. However, when it comes to youtube videos, I keep reaching out for that tablet and get on a binge – whoopsies.
5. The Aftermath
After this whole experiment, turning on my screen back to its normal state felt weird. I do feel like all the app icons were excessively vibrant as if they were almost too saturated. A part of me wanted to stay in a monochromatic screen because of the overwhelming colours. But then, after a few hours, my eyes adjusted to the new state of my phone and back I am again consuming content that the internet feeds into me.
Conclusion
Hence, I turned my phone screen to Grayscale for a week. And it was an eye-opening experience. All in all, I think there are plus sides when turning your phone to grayscale. It pushes you to be involved in a face-to-face interaction and allows you to have that digital detox from time to time. In my opinion, it is an option that I would consider in the future whenever situations get overwhelming. Simply put down your gadget for a piece of mind. It pays off.
As a generation immersed in technology and constant communication, let’s try our best to balance what happens online and IRL.
