Doomscrolling? Set your phone to grayscale
Illustration by Aaron Sacco.
by Amelia Buzzard
Shiny smartphone screens can be wonderful. They allow us to communicate, to socialize, to learn. But some of us have the nagging feeling that these glowing gadgets might be too attractive, that our time is seeping away into digital spaces, leaving us sedentary, stressed, and less engaged in things that matter to us. Over the last few years, our social media accounts have been feeding us a steady diet of polarizing politics, pandemic fears, social unrest, and nonstop war. Many of us have, very literally, watched footage of people dying on our screens.
Research confirms that our bodies are not equipped to face this kind of constant psychological stress. According to Dr. Jeff Niederdeppe, professor of communication and public policy at Cornell University, “It is well-established in the communication, psychology, and political science literature that repeated exposure to news stories about war, crime, and other forms of human suffering can increase feelings of anxiety, worry, and fear of victimization.”
So, what should we do about it? Delete social media and ditch the phone, despite the good our digital resources and communities can bring us?
Grayscale reduces anxiety over screen time
Thankfully, such drastic action isn’t necessary for improved well-being. Scientists are beginning to find functional solutions for managing the negative effects of smartphone use.
Dr. Alex Holte, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati, has dedicated his career to studying technology and human behavior. Holte stresses that scrolling social media is not inherently destructive. It becomes a problem only when “we don’t have time to go outside, go for a walk, do things that have been shown to be helpful for one’s mental health.” Rather than toss phones altogether, we can find ways to self-regulate. “I think that it’s important that, as scientists, instead of just finding that there’s an issue with something, we also focus on trying to find solutions,” he said. Holte has tested the effectiveness of a simple hack: turning your phone screen to grayscale instead of color.
Putting a grayscale filter on your phone screen can reduce both the time you spend scrolling and the anxiety you feel after. In one study, Holte and his colleagues found people’s social media use declined significantly after setting their phones to grayscale. Another study revealed that after a period of grayscale use, people also scored lower in anxiety. After producing these studies on grayscale, Holte told Medicinal Media he is “more than 95% confident it will be effective for an individual.” This is groundbreaking news for those of us worried about our mental health, and its truthfulness has been verified by the larger scientific community. Holte’s work has been cited 153 times, at least, since 2022. Many of the papers touching on this research replicate and reinforce his findings.
Aaron Sacco
Digital and emotional boundaries for better mental health
Why does this simple switch help? In the age of the 24-hour news cycle, the grayscale setting serves the important role of reminding us that what we see on our screens is different from the physical reality that surrounds us. A Vox article on modern black-and-white film observes that a reason for shooting films in grayscale is “it reminds us that we’re watching a movie, not experiencing ‘real life.’” This is a healthy boundary to have for our digital consumption at large — particularly for those struggling with the time they spend on their screens. When we watch the news (which, due to negativity bias, contains many disturbing images), grayscale sends a strong signal to our brains that the frightening things happening on our iPhone screens are not currently happening to us.
Removing color also lessens the charged, emotional urgency that can come with some images. A study comparing emotional responses to various color saturations suggests in its conclusion that applying grayscale filters may “reduce the negative emotional toll on observers who have to view disturbing images or videos.” Scientists trying exposure-based treatment for fear of spiders first showed their subjects grayscale photos in order to ease the transition to scarier, full-color therapy. Setting the news footage on our phones to gray may have a similar effect. Our blood pressure is less likely to rise; we’ll probably feel less likely to hyperventilate, yell, or weep. If my emotions are less engaged with everything upsetting I see online, I feel freer to attend to the baby in the highchair next to me.
By making our digital lives gray, we can step away from current events to better enjoy a colorful life offscreen. A grayscale filter helps us build a boundary between private life and the “doom” of the news, reminding us that although we have limited influence on faraway events, we still have the ability to do good on the streets where we live. By reducing the relentless emotional stimulation of the screen, we can save our emotional energy and use it more intentionally.
For detailed instructions on implementing this hack, see: “How to turn your phone screen to grayscale” on The Verge.