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Comment by suoduandao2 | Hacker News Reader

There are apps that change a smartphone screen to be greyscale only. Probably not as good as not having one but it might reduce the addictive quality substantially, worth a try in any case

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If you're an Apple user, it's built-in, and I've found it ergonomic to assign its toggle to a triple-tap on your phone's back and/or laptop power button.

Those triple-taps are effortlessly quick and rarely if ever misfire, making it totally reasonable to stay in greyscale by default and reengage color selectively when you're looking at something that merits it (film, family, friends, a Wordle scorecard...)

On Android it's also built-in, iirc it's called Bedtime mode.

Android phones can do that in Developer mode.

https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/74887/force-andr... (Old answer, but the placement is similar)

On LineageOS, it's been a regular setting, with a quick tile, for quite a while. And in recent mainstream Androids (12, I think?) it's available under bedtime settings or something.

You're right! My /e/ OS has it as "Reading mode" in the quick tiles. And has a Reading mode toggle in the LiveDisplay settings.

That’s a great idea. I tried a lot of similar techniques years ago without much success, but I should try again since I’ve been diagnosed and treated for ADHD since then.

On my Pixel 6a running stock Android 13, the setting is under

Accessibility > Color and motion > Color correction > Grayscale.

No separate app and no development mode needed.

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