Hello fantastic person 👋

I did a weird thing a few weeks ago. I switched my phone to greyscale.

It's silly, right? Why would you buy an expensive bit of hardware capable of displaying a bazillion colours only to turn those colours off?

Well, according to this article in Better Humans:
https://betterhumans.pub/how-to-make-your-iphone-black-and-white-and-why-you-should-42e70deb92c7

Of all the hardware capabilities of a smartphone, the screen always gets a lot of attention. That makes sense: manufacturers want you staring at their phones, and one of the ways they do that is by making the screen as beautiful as possible.

There's probably more science worth looking into, but LOL I didn't look into it. When I first read about this in Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism, the idea tickled me so much that I just tried it for myself.
https://www.calnewport.com/books/digital-minimalism/

Verdict: I loved it.

I did experience anxiety a few days in, which I didn't think was related at first. So seeing that the author of the Better Humans article encountered the same issue definitely makes me suss. Are we all now lab pigeons conditioned to push buttons because of these beautifully rich digital colours?

Honestly, I don't know and I hope not. But I do quite like having all my devices set to greyscale by default. There's something soothing about it and now all the photos friends send me make life feel extra classy in black and white.

Sorry/notsorry to all the amazing web and UI designers getting this email. If it's any consolation, the greyscale movement still seems small atm and probably won't go viral overnight. But there may be a case for increasingly greyscale-friendly interfaces as the years go by.

Have you tried greyscale? Does it sound appealing to you? What's your #1 favourite black and white photo?

Hit reply and tell me.

Stay safe,
Sandy.
sanlive.com

🤔

I've scribbled my own notes on digital minimalism. You can find them on my website.
https://sanlive.com/digitalminimalism/

Such a time saver: The Brutalist Report is excellent for skimming news headlines without the BS.
https://brutalist.report/

Turning 40 was exciting. Middle age is an opportunity to find transcendence. At least, according to The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/05/midlife-crisis-choices-opportunities/638427/

💃🏻

Finally, here's what I'm up to now.
https://sanlive.com/now