So as i was surfing the web to find a way to curb my smartphone addiction, i saw a ton of information on the Internet. There were a lot of crazy stuff which wouldn't be practical at all to implement for me like, "Stay a week without your smartphone and you'll get away with the addiction" and other ways which weren't that much interesting for me to try as I'm someone who is interested in making small changes that aren't noticeable much but have a great impact.
This may sound unrealistic or something like I'm expecting big returns without putting in hard work. It's not wrong if you feel so, cause when I was ignorant, i thought the same.
So let's get back to the method in the title. I saw this method as one of the methods suggested by Vivek Mittal in his FitTuber YouTube channel, tried it out personally and was eager to know why it worked (Or) as I'd like to say it, the psychology of it.
A common misconception.
I'd like to clear something out right here. There's a huge difference between being addicted to the smartphone and being addicted to people. If you constantly pull out your phone, check the notifications and tell, "i just saw the time" when you don't know what's the time,that's smartphone addiction.
When you go to Instagram or Facebook and keep on refreshing the page at midnight when hardly three people post something other than a birthday wish, that's addiction.
If the above two or something similar to them is not the yours , this may not help you. But don't stop reading here, as the information is something that sounds cool to know.
The Grey scale mode.
Around November 2019,Grey scale mode comes out like a new feature for Android 10 claiming it to be good for the battery life, considering the fact that the GPU would only need to render two colours. This is something far more than that.
This mode is available in the developer options in all android mobiles. ( Looks like only the developers have the prevailage to do something against the colour psychology). And it differs according to the smartphone brand. I can tell you about how things work for Huawei phones as I'm a user.
For Huawei smartphones
Go to developer options > simulate colour space > Monochromacy.
For iOS, go to Settings > General > Accessibility >Display Accommodations >Color Filters. Switch Color Filters on and select Gray-scale.
As soon as you've did it for the first time, the entire user experience will change. All the awe you had for every app you use will be lost and then try using it.You'll lose interest eventually and this will drastically reduce the time you spend on your phone.
One more important thing I'd like to convey here is that this isn't an entire cure for addiction. But it works quite well whenever you feel low about yourself for constantly checking over the phone and not being able to do something about it. You can always turn off the Grey-scale settings once you feel you're doing other stuff and your smartphone isn't addictive like before.
Now, The Psychology of it.
The Psychology used can be nicknamed as the lottery ticket Psychology. Whenever that red notification pops up, your brain gets into the compulsion loop and the content on the platform keeps you stayed in.
This is because your brain has been used to having felt a lot happy about those likes and comments and mentions you got through the same way. Just the way you'd check on the results of a lottery when you very well know the chances of winning are less but would check it anyway , hoping that you'll win. In their terms, it would be giving you a message something happened and it might be important for you and as you step in, you get consumed by the content.
Bro, I'd turn off my notifications instead! Is this what you thought right now? If yes, turning off the notifications is also a method. But this just works better for me.
The whole idea is to prevent your brain from getting that excitement, due to the instant gratification it gets by dopamine release, every time you tap on the icon when that red notification pops up.
This is how it works to their advantage. Humans are very much sensitive to colors. Social media brands use color psychology not only to make eye catching logos to get user attention,but also to keep users consumed in their content.
Ever heard of an attention engineer ?Not yet ? I too didn't until l i started knowing the fact that brands invest on them and their work to make more money.
As you might have guessed it, an attention engineer is someone who keeps your attention retained on the screen. Or let me put it straight, there's someone getting paid, for keeping you addicted on their app.So do try it out and share your experience to me if you wish to. I'd be more than happy to listen to it.
STAY SAFE AND WASH HANDS OFTEN