For those looking for a way to resist the urge to constantly stare at a smartphone …
Original material by Megan E. Holstein
As a society, we are surrounded by disruptive technologies. We can send humans to the moon and inject tiny robotic surgeons into our bodies. We can video chat with people in villages on the other side of the planet. And yet we use this technology to create a set of 'boxes' for ourselves.
'.. Boxes on the hill,
Everything is done somehow
Boxes on the hill
They are all the same.
There are pink and green
Blue and yellow
Everything is done somehow
And they are all the same … '(free translation of the lyrics of the song Little Boxes,
performer – Malvina Reynolds)
The song sings about the 'boxes' in which we live – the endless identical houses on the outskirts. What the singer did not foresee was the small 'boxes' that we constantly hold in our hands. We have technology that allows us to cover the entire planet, and we use it to send pieces of text from our 'boxes' to other similar 'boxes'.
Technology is not evil, everything is exactly the opposite. All of the amazing technologies available to us can help us create a technological way to integrate with our environment. We can feed, clothe and connect the entire world with respect for other people, animals and plants on this planet. But no. All technologies and all our efforts are directed towards the creation of improved 'boxes'.
This raises some concerns, so I constantly experiment with the technique at hand to find a more thoughtful way to use it. Specialized covers have been purchased, the number of applications used has been cut down and all notifications have been disabled in the name of keeping the phone in its place more often. Naturally, I had to resort to the eternal favorite of digital minimalists – switching the screen to black and white.
The importance of colors
Bright icons reward our brains with their looks every time we unlock our smartphone. Toggle your phone to gray scale to disable these positive reinforcements. For many, this helps to check the phone less often. (The Center For Humane Technology).
Of all the hardware capabilities of a smartphone, the screen always comes first in terms of attention. It makes sense: manufacturers want you to stare at their phones, and one way to achieve this is to create the most beautiful screen possible.
And this technique works. In 2016, the average American spent two and a half to four hours a day 'on the phone', or more than eighteen hours a week. This figure is comparable to a part-time job, where you spend the entire shift hunched over your phone. About three years have passed since the release of the study results, it is likely that these indicators today differ in a large direction. Tell me, how would you use the extra twenty hours a week?
Fortunately, there is a surprisingly easy way to get some of that time back: switch your smartphone to black and white display mode. What for? And then, that color LCD – displays stimulate parts of the brain inherited from our ancient ancestors. In nature, vibrant colors represent objects of interest. A lot of bright colors on a phone screen means a lot of interesting things that are constantly there. They become an obsession for our brains, which are still activated by bright colors. Phone designers deliberately use them to lure us in. The black and white color scheme of the display breaks this vicious circle, and the phone is no longer perceived by the brain as a decoy. It transforms from a device you cannot tear yourself away from into a boring bar of metal and glass, eliminating reinforcement at the level of the nervous system, while maintaining the utilitarian value of the device.
The first time I switched to such a color scheme, I was not yet a digital minimalist. Yes, our relationship with the phone could be called thoughtful, but it was minimalist: notifications from social networks and e-mail were set up, but the phone was jammed with constantly used applications. Duolingo, Instagram and Snapchat, like all my popular apps, lost all their charm on black and white displays.
This is how my phone looked in November 2018
The second time around, I made some changes to the way I use my phone. First, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram (and then LinkedIn, Quora and Twitter) were removed. It was also decided to reorganize application icons so that they take up as little visual space as possible and are not sources of redundant information and behavioral triggers.
This is how my phone looks now
Previously, among the applications I used frequently, there were those whose functionality was reduced to zero when I switched to gray scale. Now, each application that remains in the set of constants does not lose functionality after such a transition, greatly simplifying the transition. In fact, it has no significant disadvantages. If you don't like it, you can always turn it off, nothing complicated. If you take a photo in this mode, the color version will be saved, although you will not be able to view it in this mode until you turn off the setting or open it on another device.
My phone's display is not only black and white, but also dimmed in brightness. The white point is set to 40%. This setting controls the brightness of the white on the screen, and the percentage set means that the white on my smartphone screen is 60% darker than that on your phone. Essentially, the phone's brightness is muted. Maybe you want to do that too. My eyes got used to it for a long time, but people who sometimes take my phone in their hand sometimes complain that it is too dim and nothing is visible on it. And that's a good thing: my screen isn't bright enough to turn me into a rat in Skinner's box.
At the same time, when I look at other people's phones, the brightness of the interface buttons and the saturation of colors hit my eyes, as if I were looking at a burning light bulb up close. The colors look absurdly bright, cartoony, like a children's television program on steroids. You have to blink hard and wait for your eyes to adjust. Your eyes may not be easy either, but you're just used to it. Unsurprisingly, people can't get their eyes off the screens: LCD are akin to flashing billboards demanding our attention.
Monochrome and grayscale
The switch to black and white was worth it, even though the functionality of the phone has not changed: now I use the phone significantly less. Moreover, this option forces me to switch from phone to tablet or laptop – devices that are more powerful platforms for creativity and digital interaction.
The most radical and unexpected result of using a black and white screen is the fact that the real world feels more alive. Without artificial colors, the brain is free to focus on the real things around it. The question arises: how did we, as a society, allow and get used to this state of affairs? Or are we like those boiled frogs from the saying?
I am not saying that we should all switch to this color scheme. But maybe we should think about the production of less cartoonish-bright LCD – displays, the image on which looks more like the real world around us. But immediately after writing this proposal, I understand that this will not happen. LCD – Displays with a muted and graceful color palette will not be sold. The challenge is not to change the products companies make, but to change what people want to buy. Change starts with everyone, so I challenge you: Switch your smartphone display to black and white and don't go back to color.
Original material by Megan E. Holstein
A simple and powerful experiment. For about half a day I walked with the 'reading mode' enabled on the smartphone, which is essentially an analogue of the functionality described in the text. Interest in the smartphone has significantly decreased, the brain began to look for what to do. It seems that some kind of positive reinforcement is actually working, and not at the level of receiving notifications, 'likes', 'thumbs up', republishing, and so on. It's just that the very fact of viewing a bright image on the screen loops on itself. In the black and white version, the smartphone is perceived as a purely working tool, but it is noticeably less difficult to use it constantly. The main thing is that this functionality is included in the software assembly.
But what should those people who have a job on the content displayed on their smartphone do? The prospect of viewing content in black and white for 4-5 hours a day is unlikely to cause them positive emotions and a desire to pick up the device more often, which (as a rule) helps them earn money. I liked the comparison with boiled frogs, there is some truth in this. If you don't see any problems in your communication with gadgets, then it's great, to be able to maintain a balance between the real and the virtual world is useful. If you see that it is time to change something, then this method can be one of the first steps to improve the situation.