How to quit smartphone addiction

James Hamblin at The Atlantic says in a video for If Our Bodies Could Talk that people often look at his phone and ask him if it’s broken.

The reason It’s all in greyscale, no colour or brightness at all. There is a reason that every notification on your phone is red, that stimulates excitement in the brain. Red is the most effective colour at enhancing our attention to detail. And evidence says it works — according to Gallup, 72 per cent of smartphone users check their phone every hour. If you want to try the “mindhack” for productivity, to make your iPhone monochrome, go to settings > accessibility > greyscale.

It may look a little joyless, but — at least it’ll get you paying attention to the pretty stuff in the world around you.