[shubhamjain]

I tried this. One week in, I got used to grayscale as well and my screen time was back to the baseline (maybe only marginally affected). After nearly a decade of trying these tricks, hacks, and gamified interventions, it’s clear to me why they rarely work: they fixate on the symptom (screen time, social media use) rather than the underlying problem. Your mind craves to feel engaged/challenged in something. So, the actual problem is finding meaningful activities to replace your empty screen time, which isn't necessarily easy.

If you want to reduce your screen time, the boring old discipline is much more sustainable approach. Put the phone down and replace it with a book, or puzzles, or hobbies, or time with people.

[kaffekaka]

I fully agree. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Social media overuse is an emotional problem, not a technical.

[lostmsu]

So, I haven't tried it yet, but grayscale was a part of my plan as well. The other part was reduced refresh rate (e.g. 4-8 Hz) to force reading-only.

Re: back to baseline. Are you sure you actually have a problem with your screen use? I feel like grayscale is mostly for people who can't stop Instagram scrolling/YouTube habits.

[hn92726819]

Disagree. "Just do it" works for some people. Not everyone.

In my experience, I hated looking at a gray screen, so I just stop using my phone when it's in grayscale.

[DANmode]

But they didn’t say “just do it” :)

They said “spend effort ensuring other meaningful time-draws are around that are more fulfilling/less damaging”.

Relevant excerpt:

> the actual problem is finding meaningful activities to replace your empty screen time, which isn't necessarily easy.

[hn92726819]

That's true. I came off too dismissive. I like the advice, I was just disagreeing with:

> it’s clear to me why they rarely work: ...

and

> boring old discipline is much more sustainable approach

I like the idea of trying a more holistic approach, but grayscale doesn't have to contradict with that. Some people (myself included) can use grayscale as a tool alongside other things.

[Trasmatta]

Agreed. My brain just adjusted to grey scale and I was scrolling just as much. There are no easy / simple hacks.