Opinion: The relief I felt when my phone faded to gray

January 9, 2026

Julia Angwin, an investigative journalist, had long been skeptical of concerns about phone addiction. But she tried switching her phone to a black-and-white color scheme as an experiment.

A photograph capturing the shadow of a hand holding a phone. The background is sparkling water and grass.

Brea Souders for The New York Times

Opinion

The results were shocking, she said. →

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