Gen Z Is Turning Its Phones Black and White
Switching to grayscale cut students' screen time by about 40 minutes a day. The most colorful generation is opting out.
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A bare white room can mean someone made space to think. It can also mean someone could not take the noise. The same grayscale screen reads as discipline in one hand and exhaustion in the other.
The Wizard of Oz did not invent color film, but it staged color as a revelation. A gray Kansas farm, a tornado, a door pushed open onto full three-strip Technicolor. We have been letting color in ever since, onto the movie screen, into the living room, and now into pockets that glow from morning to night.
Then a split photo stopped Ryan on his own full-color screen: a row of 1950s cars in mint green, powder blue, butter yellow, and coral pink above an ordinary parking lot of white, black, silver, and gray, captioned America is losing its color. The numbers held up. By 2024 roughly 4 out of 5 new passenger cars worldwide were white, black, gray, or silver (BASF, 2024), and white and off-white make up about 70 percent of countertop choices (Houzz, 2024). He found the same drift in his own house, and it has a name: Millennial minimalism.
The overstimulation data is stark. 71 percent of Americans report experiencing overstimulation, and 85 percent of Gen Z do, nearly twice the 47 percent of Boomers (Best Therapies, 2026). 92 percent of Gen Z adults reported a stress-related symptom in the previous month (APA, 2023). So some are setting their phones to grayscale deliberately, and it works. Students who switched to black and white used their phones about 40 minutes less per day, with the steepest drops in social media (Holte and Ferraro, 2020). The mechanism is almost insultingly simple: bright color is the reward, so the slot machine goes dark.
Underconsumption core extends the same instinct to objects. Gen Z cut overall spending by about 13 percent in early 2025, sharpest in clothing, accessories, and electronics (PwC, 2025). Ryan traces the roots back to the 1987 garbage barge that wandered the coast for months while the country watched, the year New Jersey passed the first state recycling mandate. A generation taught that more was the problem grew up wanting less.
By 2024, roughly 4 out of 5 new passenger cars worldwide were white, black, gray, or silver (BASF, 2024), and white and off-white together account for about 70 percent of countertop choices (Houzz, 2024).
71 percent of Americans report overstimulation, rising to 85 percent of Gen Z against 47 percent of Boomers (Best Therapies, 2026).
Students who switched their screens to grayscale used them about 40 minutes less per day, with the steepest drops in social media (Holte and Ferraro, 2020), and one week of grayscale lowered both screen time and stress (Dekker and Baumgartner, 2024).
Gen Z cut overall spending by about 13 percent in early 2025, with the sharpest pullback in clothing, accessories, and electronics (PwC, 2025). They are the only age group actively shrinking its digital footprint.
The open question is whether this restraint is peace or avoidance. A culture turning down the volume on purpose looks identical to one that cannot take one more input.
Plain-language definitions for the ideas in this episode. Structured for search and AI answers.
The Gen Z movement built around buying less: using what you already own, repairing instead of replacing, and finishing the bottle before buying the next one (McKinsey and Company, 2024).
In this episode: The next step past Millennial minimalism.
Setting a phone display to black and white to remove the color reward that drives compulsive use. Research finds it cuts screen time and stress without any other intervention.
In this episode: The deliberate rebellion Ryan reads as running The Wizard of Oz backward.
The state of receiving more sensory and informational input than a person can process. It is reported by 71 percent of Americans and by 85 percent of Gen Z, nearly double the Boomer rate.
In this episode: The condition Ryan argues both the white room and the gray phone are responses to.
Straight answers to the questions this essay raises. Open by default, structured for search and AI.
Why is Gen Z turning its phones black and white? +
Setting a phone to grayscale strips out the bright color that makes apps rewarding. Research found students who switched their screens to black and white used them about 40 minutes less per day, with the steepest drops in social media. Ryan Vet frames it as taking away the slot machine's payout, so the pull weakens.
Is American design really losing its color? +
The essay traces a neutral drift across everyday surfaces. By 2024, roughly four out of five new passenger cars worldwide were white, black, gray, or silver, and white and off-white together make up about seventy percent of US countertop choices. Ryan Vet started with a viral photo of two rows of cars sixty years apart and found the numbers held up.
What is underconsumption core? +
Underconsumption core is a movement Gen Z built over about two years around buying less: using what you already own, repairing instead of replacing, and finishing the bottle before buying the next one. It coincided with Gen Z cutting overall spending by about 13% in early 2025, with the sharpest pullback in clothing, accessories, and electronics.
How overstimulated do people say they are? +
In one national survey, 71% of Americans said they experience overstimulation, and Gen Z carried the heaviest load at 85%, nearly twice the Boomer rate of 47%. The essay also notes that about half of American teenagers now spend more than four hours a day on screens outside of schoolwork.
Is this restraint a sign of calm or avoidance? +
The essay deliberately leaves the question open. One reading is peace, a culture turning down the volume and choosing less. The other is avoidance, people so overwhelmed that they shut off whatever they can reach, color included. Ryan Vet says the same grayscale screen reads as discipline in one hand and exhaustion in the other.
Full show notes
The Wizard of Oz taught a generation to gasp when the world turned to color. Now Gen Z is deliberately turning its phones back to black and white.
Generational futurist, USA TODAY bestselling author, and international keynote speaker Ryan Vet starts with a viral photo, two rows of cars sixty years apart, captioned “America is losing its color,” and goes looking for the numbers. What he finds is a culture draining toward white, black, and gray, from cars to countertops to the grayscale screens Gen Z is choosing on purpose. This episode of The Ryan Vet Show asks whether all that restraint is peace or avoidance, and what the overstimulation era is really signaling.
Don’t miss this week’s Monday guest episode with Lenore Skenazy, founder of Free-Range Kids, on why overprotection is the real danger.
Key Takeaways
By 2024, roughly four out of five new passenger cars worldwide were white, black, gray, or silver (BASF, 2024). White and off-white together make up about 70% of US countertop choices (Houzz, 2024).71% of Americans report overstimulation, and Gen Z carries the heaviest load at 85%, nearly twice the rate of Boomers at 47% (Best Therapies, 2026).Students who switched their phones to grayscale used them about 40 minutes less per day, with the steepest drops in social media (Holte and Ferraro, 2020). Bright color is the reward. Take it away, and the slot machine goes dark.Gen Z is the only age group actively shrinking its digital footprint (PYMNTS Intelligence, 2024), and built a movement around buying less called underconsumption core (McKinsey and Company, 2024). It cut overall spending about 13% in early 2025 (PwC, 2025).The bare white room and the dim gray phone may be the same instinct aimed at two screens: when the input will not stop, you turn down the part you can.The open question is whether this is calm or avoidance. A grayscale screen reads as discipline in one hand and exhaustion in the other.Research and Sources Cited
BASF (2024), Houzz (2024), and Fixr (2024) on the neutral drift across cars, countertops, and home palettesBest Therapies (2026) and the American Psychological Association (2023) on overstimulation and Gen Z stressCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (2023) on teen screen timeHolte and Ferraro (2020) and Dekker and Baumgartner (2024) on grayscale smartphone interventionsPYMNTS Intelligence (2024), McKinsey and Company (2024), and PwC (2025) on Gen Z’s shrinking footprint and underconsumption coreNortheast Recycling Council (2024), EPA (2018), and McDonald’s (2021) on the recycling era that shaped MillennialsCultural touchstone: The Wizard of Oz (1939)Connect with Ryan Vet
Read the full Collide essay: https://ryanvet.com/collide/gen-z-is-turning-its-phones-black-and-white/Subscribe to the Collide newsletter: https://ryanvet.com/collideLearn more and book Ryan to speak: https://ryanvet.comSend us Fan Mail
About Ryan VetRyan Vet is a USA TODAY bestselling author, futurist, and international keynote speaker whose insights on generations, culture, and the future of work have been featured in Forbes, Financial Times, ABC, NBC, and CBS. His research helps leaders understand emerging generational patterns and anticipate societal shifts before they fully unfold.
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