6 ms·

Why did you say "less addicting"?

sodality2 2y ago
One common psychological trick addictive social media uses is high saturation color, as it causes our monkey brains to enjoy it slightly more. This is monotone and I’d assume that’s a relevant feature point
- snypher 2y ago
  I often use ctrl-win-c shortcut for black and white mode in Windows, it's great to rest the eyes.
  - webprofusion 2y ago
    That's awesome, I had no idea that was a feature, using it now!
  - Theodores 2y ago
    On Ubuntu it is not quite like that. https://github.com/ionutbortis/gnome-bedtime-mode https://github.com/ionutbortis/gnome-bedtime-mode Yeah, you have to do some installing to get the feature you never knew you needed.
  - mattsnuts 2y ago
    Ah man about a year ago my windows went black and white and I didn’t know why and couldn’t figure it out, I must have pressed this. Had to reboot to fix it.
- jsheard 2y ago
  Most devices let you enable a monochrome filter and optionally invert the image somewhere in the accessibility settings, for what it's worth. You don't need a special device just for that.
  - selcuka 2y ago
    > Most devices let you [...] But nobody does that, because we love addictions.
    - imp0cat 2y ago
      This. The screen should slowly desaturate color and eventually switch to b/w when the phone detects mindless scrolling automatically. ;)
      - cowsaymoo 2y ago
        Lool like each post you scroll desaturates the screen by 2%
    - dash2 2y ago
      I do it!
- wzyboy 2y ago
  On Pixel phone, there is a Digital Wellbeing setting that can turn your screen into Greyscale mode during bedtime. It is said to discourage the use of social networks and helps you sleep better.
  - cypherpunks01 2y ago
    I'd recommend giving grayscale mode a try not only during bedtime, but all the time! My Pixel has been set this way for a couple months and it has decreased my mindless phone usage by simply making the phone more boring overall, without any new device or major sacrifices. I became concerned that I'd turn it off when I temporarily needed color and forget to turn it back on, so instead I used Tasker to listen for L-R shake action and make that temporarily disable grayscale mode for 20 secs (in case I specifically decide I want to look at color in a photo or disambiguate something from grayscale). Works decently well, I can explain the Tasker steps if anyone else is interested.
    - freedomben 2y ago
      I'd love to do the same thing, so if you have time to explain the Tasker steps I'd definitely make use of them :-)
      - cypherpunks01 2y ago
        I put the steps in a sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40465686 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40465686 Cheers
    - albert_e 2y ago
      > used Tasker to listen for L-R shake action and make that temporarily disable grayscale mode for 20 secs Wonderful I am using gray scale on personal phone permanently, but avoided that on work phone as I might need to discern color in some work documents or screenshares. What you describe seems like a perfect solution but does it work on all Android phones? If you could throw some more light on the steps ... appreciate that!
- lloeki 2y ago
  That, and at night a LED device is literally putting a flashlight in direct line of sight, which does not help in making one sleepy (even with night mode stuff cutting some blue light it's still a flashlight, albeit tinted) so more potential for extended late hours doomscrolling. OLED is kind of better than LCD but still. Comparatively eink relies on ambient lighting (backlighted ones have it backwards in that regard)
coldtea 2y ago
For starters, it doesn't come with the whole "light show", it's black and white. "Minimalist" types often suggest turning your smartphone into B&W mode (usually an accessibility setting), precisely to reduce temptation to watch videos, social media, and such.
- card_zero 2y ago
  Elsewhere in this thread I see comments that mention "low distraction", "calmer", and something about iPhones frying kids' brains. This all looks like snobbery to me, based on the association of monochrome paper with novels and writing and intellectual pursuits. In the 18th century we were scared that novels would fry the brains of young women, but times have changed and now it's iPhones that are sinful, and monochrome displays are virtuous, apparently. I think I might be going off the idea of e-ink, as a result. But my particular interest is nostalgia for the illustrators of the 80s. I would like to see a full-color portrait format 16-inch e-ink display or tablet. Preferably as addicting as possible, because outside of actual pharmacology that word just means "fun".
  - roughly 2y ago
    By way of an experiment - set your phone screen to black & white (in iOS, settings -> accessibility -> display -> color filters -> [on] -> grayscale, on android, settings -> accessibility -> color & motion -> color correction -> [on] -> grayscale), and leave it that way for a day of normal use. Then, turn it off, and note how you react to the change. Folks aren't calling it calmer because they're trying to look erudite, they're calling it calmer because modern applications put a lot of work into capturing your attention, and color is one of the tools they use (quite aggressively) to do so. Disabling color on the device isn't some way to look snobbish, it's a way to reduce the number of ways the device and applications are attempting to grab your attention.
    - card_zero 2y ago
      Just ignore them? Don't use manipulative apps? I suppose for some people this is an issue and they genuinely want a physical solution in order to stop habitually doing things they don't like, like Odysseus wanting to be tied to the mast to avoid the Sirens. I can predict how my behavior would change if I tried this: I'd be pissed off because you'd ruined my game of Heroes III (1999). And Brogue would be slightly less pretty. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead would be much the same, and news sites and coding wouldn't change much. So my reaction would just be "this is gloomy", it's not like I need freeing from a hypnotic spell.
jimmysong 2y ago
For one, images and videos are a lot less visually stimulating. Everything is in black and white, and though those all render fine, they're just not as interesting as they would be in full color. So instead of doomscrolling Youtube shorts, I find myself doing more reading, particularly of books since the epub reading experience is fantastic and causes much less eye strain.
petepete 2y ago
It's an American term that means 'less addictive.'

One common psychological trick addictive social media uses is high saturation color, as it causes our monkey brains to enjoy it slightly more. This is monotone and I’d assume that’s a relevant feature point

snypher 2y ago
I often use ctrl-win-c shortcut for black and white mode in Windows, it's great to rest the eyes.
- webprofusion 2y ago
  That's awesome, I had no idea that was a feature, using it now!
- Theodores 2y ago
  On Ubuntu it is not quite like that. https://github.com/ionutbortis/gnome-bedtime-mode https://github.com/ionutbortis/gnome-bedtime-mode Yeah, you have to do some installing to get the feature you never knew you needed.
- mattsnuts 2y ago
  Ah man about a year ago my windows went black and white and I didn’t know why and couldn’t figure it out, I must have pressed this. Had to reboot to fix it.
jsheard 2y ago
Most devices let you enable a monochrome filter and optionally invert the image somewhere in the accessibility settings, for what it's worth. You don't need a special device just for that.
- selcuka 2y ago
  > Most devices let you [...] But nobody does that, because we love addictions.
  - imp0cat 2y ago
    This. The screen should slowly desaturate color and eventually switch to b/w when the phone detects mindless scrolling automatically. ;)
    - cowsaymoo 2y ago
      Lool like each post you scroll desaturates the screen by 2%
  - dash2 2y ago
    I do it!
wzyboy 2y ago
On Pixel phone, there is a Digital Wellbeing setting that can turn your screen into Greyscale mode during bedtime. It is said to discourage the use of social networks and helps you sleep better.
- cypherpunks01 2y ago
  I'd recommend giving grayscale mode a try not only during bedtime, but all the time! My Pixel has been set this way for a couple months and it has decreased my mindless phone usage by simply making the phone more boring overall, without any new device or major sacrifices. I became concerned that I'd turn it off when I temporarily needed color and forget to turn it back on, so instead I used Tasker to listen for L-R shake action and make that temporarily disable grayscale mode for 20 secs (in case I specifically decide I want to look at color in a photo or disambiguate something from grayscale). Works decently well, I can explain the Tasker steps if anyone else is interested.
  - freedomben 2y ago
    I'd love to do the same thing, so if you have time to explain the Tasker steps I'd definitely make use of them :-)
    - cypherpunks01 2y ago
      I put the steps in a sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40465686 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40465686 Cheers
  - albert_e 2y ago
    > used Tasker to listen for L-R shake action and make that temporarily disable grayscale mode for 20 secs Wonderful I am using gray scale on personal phone permanently, but avoided that on work phone as I might need to discern color in some work documents or screenshares. What you describe seems like a perfect solution but does it work on all Android phones? If you could throw some more light on the steps ... appreciate that!
lloeki 2y ago
That, and at night a LED device is literally putting a flashlight in direct line of sight, which does not help in making one sleepy (even with night mode stuff cutting some blue light it's still a flashlight, albeit tinted) so more potential for extended late hours doomscrolling. OLED is kind of better than LCD but still. Comparatively eink relies on ambient lighting (backlighted ones have it backwards in that regard)

coldtea 2y ago

For starters, it doesn't come with the whole "light show", it's black and white. "Minimalist" types often suggest turning your smartphone into B&W mode (usually an accessibility setting), precisely to reduce temptation to watch videos, social media, and such.

card_zero 2y ago
Elsewhere in this thread I see comments that mention "low distraction", "calmer", and something about iPhones frying kids' brains. This all looks like snobbery to me, based on the association of monochrome paper with novels and writing and intellectual pursuits. In the 18th century we were scared that novels would fry the brains of young women, but times have changed and now it's iPhones that are sinful, and monochrome displays are virtuous, apparently. I think I might be going off the idea of e-ink, as a result. But my particular interest is nostalgia for the illustrators of the 80s. I would like to see a full-color portrait format 16-inch e-ink display or tablet. Preferably as addicting as possible, because outside of actual pharmacology that word just means "fun".
- roughly 2y ago
  By way of an experiment - set your phone screen to black & white (in iOS, settings -> accessibility -> display -> color filters -> [on] -> grayscale, on android, settings -> accessibility -> color & motion -> color correction -> [on] -> grayscale), and leave it that way for a day of normal use. Then, turn it off, and note how you react to the change. Folks aren't calling it calmer because they're trying to look erudite, they're calling it calmer because modern applications put a lot of work into capturing your attention, and color is one of the tools they use (quite aggressively) to do so. Disabling color on the device isn't some way to look snobbish, it's a way to reduce the number of ways the device and applications are attempting to grab your attention.
  - card_zero 2y ago
    Just ignore them? Don't use manipulative apps? I suppose for some people this is an issue and they genuinely want a physical solution in order to stop habitually doing things they don't like, like Odysseus wanting to be tied to the mast to avoid the Sirens. I can predict how my behavior would change if I tried this: I'd be pissed off because you'd ruined my game of Heroes III (1999). And Brogue would be slightly less pretty. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead would be much the same, and news sites and coding wouldn't change much. So my reaction would just be "this is gloomy", it's not like I need freeing from a hypnotic spell.

jimmysong 2y ago

For one, images and videos are a lot less visually stimulating. Everything is in black and white, and though those all render fine, they're just not as interesting as they would be in full color. So instead of doomscrolling Youtube shorts, I find myself doing more reading, particularly of books since the epub reading experience is fantastic and causes much less eye strain.

petepete 2y ago

It's an American term that means 'less addictive.'