Kan ett gråskaleläge på mobilskärmen hjälpa studenter att minska sin skärmtid på Instagram?

Sammanfattning: As social media more or less in the last decade has become an integral part in many people's lives, discussions have taken place about what a healthy amount of screen time is. Especially among young users, excessive social media use has been linked with a decline in mental health. In general, it is common that people find their phones distractive, and no wonder, as social media apps are deliberately designed to keep users on for as much time as possible. In the year 2018, the discussions increased in intensity, putting more pressure on large tech-companies to take responsibility. As a result of this, several functions have been integrated into different smartphones such as the iPhone and Android phones. One of these functions is a grayscale-filter that removes the addictive colors from the screen and turns it black and white. Since earlier studies have been made on this topic, this study has been narrowed down to focus on university students that use Instagram on a daily basis, to examine whether this grayscale-filter is effective in reducing their screen time on the platform. 17 students were included in the study. First, data on their regular screen time on Instagram was recorded along with qualitative information on their relation with the platform. The participants were then instructed to use the grayscale-mode for 7 days, whereafter their screentime on Instagram for those 7 days was recorded. Afterwards, the participants were again asked qualitative questions. Brief interviews were held with 5 arbitrarily chosen participants to get more elaborate answers. The result of the study shows that the students spent less time on Instagram during a one week period with the grayscale-mode turned on. However, a large majority of the students experienced that the setting was needlessly worsening other aspects of their phone use. Because of this, most of the students were, when asked, not inclined on using the setting again in the future.