Calm

Check out the Go Gray App and sign up for early access!

I had a reader reach out to me last week after gogray.today was featured on Vice.

Hi, I've independently come to a similar conclusion to you; grayscale on my iPhone has been the most helpful change in moving to a more mindful usage pattern. But I don't agree that it looks ugly! Really, I find it much more calming and pleasant in most cases. But since it's more of a minimalist aesthetic, many people will find the change jarring and have to adjust for some time. I think if you highlighted that people won't end up feeling bad using their phone, just less addicted, they might be more likely to try it.

I even find the same to be true with healthy food like broccoli! To like the things that are less rewarding in the short-term and make you feel better in the long term, you have to acquire the taste over time. Meanwhile, stupid pleasures like sugar start to lose their appeal. Healthy eating patterns that are not guided by random cravings come naturally with that.

Best,
Lukas

Lukas has a really strong point and that was something I noticed as well: I felt calm when I would unlock my phone. I wanted to clear up what I meant when I stated going gray can be really "boring" and "ugly."

I think the point I was trying to make with the ugliness comment was that, comparatively, social media apps that are heavy on visuals (Instagram or Snapchat) are uglier to look at in grayscale and therefore you end up spending less time on them. I can see how some might misconstrue the ugliness point and feel discouraged in trying grayscale. I hope that this encourages anyone that was on the fence about even trying it.