A neuroscientist has recommended that people change one simple setting on their phones to make them less enticing to use. In recent years, there has been increasing research into how much time people spend on their phones. With this in mind, many people are trying to work out how to reduce their screen time to stop behaviours such as doomscrolling.
Neuroscientist's tip on grayscale mode
Dr Sahar Yousef, a neuroscientist from the American university UC Berkeley, says there is one solution and she revealed all on entrepreneur and Dragon's Den star Steven Bartlett's The Diary Of A CEO podcast.
Theorising that neuroscience could be used to reduce as well as increase engagement, Dr Yousef said: "This is going to be the new big reverse Uno, as I call it. They [phone companies] use neuroscience to get us hooked, and I think we can use reverse neuroscience to reverse this entire thing. If they increase the stimulation…you reduce it.
"The ways in which you reduce the stimulation. One, if you keep your phone in grey. So literally going into something like grey scale makes the phone less neurologically stimulating so it's a heck of a lot easier for you to actually get off your phone.
"You do this in settings. And again, this is, by the way, a beautiful example of how the default settings are not here to help you. The default settings are here to help them make money off of your attention and your time."
Why grayscale helps reduce phone use
Dr Yousef spoke passionately about the psychology of the change and how people should be better than those features.
She added: "So you are better than the default settings, Steven. I am better than the default settings. Everyone who's listening, you are better than the default settings.
"When you do that, your phone is immediately, it looks dead to you. It's way easier to not go from app to app and do that thing where we mindlessly scroll."
How to activate grayscale on an iPhone
Open Accessibility Settings: Launch the Settings app on your iPhone, scroll down, and tap on Accessibility
Navigate to Display Options: Under the "Vision" section at the top, tap on Display & Text Size.
Select Colour Filters: Scroll down and tap on Colour Filters.
Enable Grayscale: Toggle the switch next to Colour Filters to the ON position (it will turn green). From the list of options that appears below, select Grayscale. Your entire iPhone screen should instantly lose all colour and display only in black, white, and grey.
