Going gray

For the last several years, there has been a major trend in desktop and web applications — to remove all of the bright colors, switch to single-color icons, and provide a “clean” modern-looking app.

I will not give any specific examples (for fear of being yelled at), but if you look at a lot of major applications, you will see that this trend has had a pretty major impact. The old XP-style colors are out (and old-fashioned) and clean, gray lines are the thing.

I bring this up because of a particular internet meme that has been floating around. It was started by a guy named Tristan Harris, and has been the subject of multiple articles.

The gist of the article is that if you are addicted to your phone, then switching from color to gray-scale will help–you will not feel the need to pick up your phone as much, and when you do pick it up, you will be able to put it down more easily.

Lots of people have apparently tried this and found that it works.

So, here is my question–if your job requires you to stare at a particular app most of the day, and that app has been grayified, what exactly does that do to your ability to stay interested in your work?

Just saying…