I Went Grayscale On All My Devices Here Is Why…

About one month ago, I made the decision to put grayscale on all my devices. I have heard of people doing it before, but everyone I know who tried it out, disabled it after a few days. It was never something that stuck around in my inner circles.

This decision was made purposely to lessen the deep attachment I have to my computer, phone and ipad. I was hooked to Facebook and X.com in December, which also led to the decision to delete social media.

This time, instead of deactivating my Meta, Twitter, and YouTube accounts, I firmly decided to permanently delete access to the account.

I noticed that everytime I “deactivated” one of my accounts, I would reactivate a few months later. This point is exemplary in the case of my old YouTube channel (if you know, you know).

No More Television, No More Movies, No More Games

In addition to both Social Media and Grayscale, I have said “No” to Television, Movies, and Games. My 56" flat screen tv in my bedroom was last used to read a book off of my computer (I have a poggers hdmi to tv setup).

Television - I would watch a ton of episodes of various shows that would just eat away at my time. I watched the ENTIRE Dexter Series in the fall and loved it (up until Season 4. Like seriously it gets bad after season 4, don’t listen to people on the Dexter subreddit, the rest of the show is just bad) which led me to binge random netflix shows like A.P. Bio, Loudermilk, and Monk in December. These television “plots” are delibrately drawn out so that it can fill in the TV block, take your attention, and sell you various products.

While Netflix thankfully doesn’t have ads yet, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and HBO Max do. It’s a digusting practice, and it is just a waste of time.

Movies - While I could say that the occasional movie is alright, my boundaries have been quite strict. The last movie I watched was at the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, New York.

This museum showcased a documentary about this man’s stupendous life. Since this was at a museum and of the educational nature, watching this film was within my “ruleset”. I am learning more about history and my focus was fully on the screen.

I learned more about the Wright Brothers and other cool stuff. In the future, I would like to watch a movie if it was WORTH WATCHING. There are so SO many movies out there that just don’t need to be watched. (ahem, Captain America Brave New World)

I am trying to watch less movies, so the movies I watch will be more meaningful. I will probably only watch movies with other people. Again, the plot has to be worth watching. I want to watch something that will inspire me.

Gaming - I really got into playing on my Wii and Gamecube in December as well. While I have massive respect for the Zelda series, there is just no way I would be able to finish all of them. I played The Wind Waker in December and it took me all month. I didn’t use a guide since I wanted to do it myself. Gaming is just something I have been wired to do, and playing games all day or half of the day isn’t in the cards for me. Now, I was thinking about having some friends over for my birthday. Perhaps I will play Zelda again then, less focus on completing the plot but just playing for a couple hours during my birthday party. Stuff like that is acceptable. It has it’s time, and it has its place.

Party games are a great way to socialize but getting invested into these games is just not worth it. I already have my actual life to be invested in, and I already spent too many hours playing games in the past. It’s time to grow up.

Reading More

Since I went grayscale, instead of consuming YouTube videos or having the urge to view YouTube videos, I have been reading website blogposts. Perhaps part of the reason I have been reading and exploring the blogosphere is because I deleted social media.

I now no longer have a curated algorithm telling me what to watch, read, and repost. I have search engines to find blogs and then after that I am off to the races to explore on my own time, with my own mind. This must be something most don’t experience since social media is all curated feeds. Social Media is like being stuck on a train track, where exploring and surfing the web is like driving in a car. That is a good analogy.

Since grayscale is in effect, I don’t even have the urge to stay surfing on the web for long though. Below is a screentime graph before and after I used grayscale.

Now, I have been reading more books and using alternative methods of finding information.

I would say I replaced YouTube with Blogs, Facebook with Wikipedia and X.com with the Library. Blogs are great because I can hear what other people say on different subjects and not subject myself to persuasive language. I love hearing other people’s thoughts and ideas, but I grew up being swayed by cults of personality. Now, the only people who have influence of persuasion to that level are the people in my actual life. Which is a much healthier thing.

Ideas can now be processed by my own mind and I don’t have to worry about psychological techniques modern cult leaders use. Perhaps I will write a essay on this, but the modern world is chalk full of cults under the guise of “influencers” The influencer and follower dynamic is a cash machine.

When it comes to reading physical books, I use the library as a primary method of finding information. During the last two weeks I have been attending the library. I have been going through about a shelf a day, just to see what books the library has. I have discovered a few new favorites.

-History of Sex

-A Million Wicked Thoughts

-Buy Buy Baby

Beyond discovery, I have fostered quite the book collection over the past year. I failed to read these books due to the aforementioned social media use. Now that I have freed up my time to read, I have organized my books by the dewey decimal system.

I will skim books I own to get a generic idea of what the books is about. It would be pretty tough to read every book cover to cover, so I like this method. That way I can skim and find the books that have the most valuable information.

Conclusion

In conclusion, my new lifestyle shift may seem quite extreme. It is, but with the levels of investment and attachment I had to these activities wasn’t adding up to progress in my life. Extreme action must be took when one is falling behind in different aspects of their life.

I understand that many readers may be able to have a healthy relationship with these different methods of entertainment. This is perfectly okay. Even if you were to choose to spend more time than I would on different entertainment that is okay too. I am not here to make judgement on anyone’s life but my own. In the past, I feel like everytime I tried to make life changes I have been judged for being “too extreme”.

The thought that it’s “all about balance”. Well, that is a big big lie. What is “balance” anyways? “Balance” for Joe may be 1 movie a week. “Balance” for Mary may be 1 movie a day. It is totally anecdotal. Extremism isn’t “bad” and we have been led that being “extreme” equals “bad” it just isn’t.

Yes, people can do extreme things that HARM others and themselves. People can also do extreme things that BENEFIT others and themselves. One does not have to do with the other. We need to seperate these meanings.

Here is an example. If someone is constantly drinking alcohol and they take a “extreme” life change and go sober, is that bad? One may say “Well, that’s different” But how and why is it different? That point doesn’t logically follow. I feel that using these entertainment methods harm my life more than they benefit my life. Extremely adjusting my tech usage will be beneficial for my life. End of story. As someone once said “Don’t Judge My Path If You Haven’t Walked My Journey”.

I have judged others in the past, I must admit. Since I don’t want to be judged for my new tech habits, I will add another quote “Do onto others as you would want done upon yourself.”

In the end, the purpose of this article is to get you thinking about the way you spend YOUR time. I am not judging anyone but myself. We can make our own judgements and assessments of the way we live our life. I know it is difficult sometimes. If we all did this the world would be a betterplace.

UPDATE 02/11/2025

In my last post, I discussed grayscale and it’s implications it had on my life. While successful, it seems after posting, I went back to my ways.

Last weekend, I watched YouTube, listened to podcasts, watched Harry Potter. I occasionally turned of grayscale.

As I type, I am currently using grayscale, although, a few occasions I went back.

I am concerned that my focus on grayscale or not is an over emphasis, detracting from the more important things in my life, like building my organizations.

I don’t think my previous blogpost was wrong, but I do think that flexibility is required as I proceed in my affairs.

I am about to enjoy the oboe, bassoon, and horn.

Have a great night.

Aidan Hellrigel