As of late, I have been glued to my phone. From social media to online shopping, I have created an unhealthy, co-dependent relationship with my hand-held friend. During a quarantine-safe hangout, I noticed that my friend’s phone was completely in black and white. Upon questioning her, she told me it helps reduce her screen time. That was exactly what I needed. I’ve done digital detoxes before but had never heard of this method. So I, too, set my phone to the gray scale mode and tried it for a week.
Going into it, my screen time was an embarrassingly high six hours per day (mostly due to TikTok). I wanted to cut that down to by at least half. Immediately, the usual vibrant assortment of apps and red notifications were replaced by dull shades of gray. Texting and calling still felt somewhat normal, but when I scrolled through apps that