Here’s A Brilliant Trick To Help You Spend Less Time On Your Phone

Screesnshot from The Atlantic

Sometimes it can be a little too hard to get off of Facebook and get back to whatever it is that you’re supposed to be doing. But, according to The Atlantic, there’s a perfectly good reason for that.

The publication argues that if your phone was grayscale, you’d be able to focus on something besides the tiny screen. Lifehacker points out that it’s the colors, especially the red notification colors, that draw our eyes and make it so difficult to just put down the phone.

According to a video on The Atlantic’s “If Our Bodies Could Talk” the color red is the “most effective at enhancing our attention to detail.” So, the phone tech companies really knew what they were doing when they made all of our notifications pop up in that hue (McDonald’s knew what it was doing when it chose this color, too).

[arve url=”https://www.theatlantic.com/video/iframe/480240/”/]

But, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to switch your phone screen to black and white. Which, according to the video’s host, James Hamblin, you’d also be surprised by how unappealing Instagram is in black and white.

Lifehacker details how to make the switch on an iPhone: Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Color Filters > and select “Grayscale.”

But, they mention that it’s a little trickier to do on an Android. Thankfully, an online forum, Android Central, can help with that.

Here’s how they say to do it: Go to “about device,” find “build number,” and tap it a bunch of times until the phone tells you you are a developer. Then, go back to settings, and above about device, you will see a new option called “developer options.” Open it, and find “Simulate color space,” and set it to “Monochrome.”

Here’s a video to help:

Once you do, if you’re like Hamblin, at least, you’ll find yourself checking your phone a lot less. Because looking at it won’t be anywhere near as enticing.

This little hack seems to make a lot of sense. So, if your New Year’s resolution is to spend less time on your phone and more time enjoying your surroundings, this could just be how you’re going to meet your goal!

[h/t: Lifehacker]

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About the Author
Augusta Statz
I have a B.F.A. in Writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. I’m an avid writer with a genuine sense of curiosity. I feel the best way to absorb the world around you is through fashion, art and food, so that’s what I spend most of my time writing about.

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