How to Make Your iPhone Black and White (And Why You Should)

The candy-colored interface on your phone triggers your brain into using it more. Use grayscale mode to make the junk less appealing

As a society, we are surrounded with groundbreaking technology. We have the power to put people on the moon and we insert tiny robots in our bodies to do surgery. We can video chat with people in rural villages on the other side of the world.

And we use that technology to build ourselves a series of boxes.

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same
There’s a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same

Malvina Reynolds — Little Boxes

Reynolds sings about the boxes we live in, the endless repetitive houses in the suburbs.

What she didn’t foresee were the little boxes we hold in our hands. We have the technology to reach across the globe, and we use it to send little strings of text from our little boxes to other people’s little boxes.

Technology isn’t evil — quite the opposite. With all the amazing technology we have available, we could create tech that integrates us with the environment. We could feed, clothe and connect the whole world in ways that are respectful of other humans, animals, and plants on this earth.

But we don’t. We use all our tech and all our power to create better boxes.

It’s a source of concern—so I am always tinkering with my tech, looking for a more mindful way to use it. I’ve gotten specialized phone cases, cut down the number of apps I use, and turned all my notifications off in the name of putting my phone in its place.

Naturally, I had to try a perennial favorite of digital minimalists: turning my phone screen black and white.

Why Colors Matter

Colorful icons give our brains shiny rewards every time we unlock. Set your phone to grayscale to remove those positive reinforcements. It helps many people check their phone less.
The Center for Humane Technology