Are shades of gray an answer to too much screen time?

If you’re like many of us, you may have discovered you’re a little more patient than you used to be.

Not really, no one enjoys waiting in a long line while the checker takes her sweet time scanning the purchases of the lucky person at the front of the line, looking up the price of obscure produce and commenting on the weather.

But if you are trapped in a line somewhere, or waiting to give someone a ride, or killing time until your next appointment, you probably enjoy having that little slab of plastic, glass and a few billion transistors in your pocket.

It’s nice to be able to check your email, see who likes your Facebook posts and shop in one store while you’re waiting to check out in another.

But like most activities, cellphone surfing can be taken too far, and often is.

According to some researchers at Heidelberg University, smartphone addiction has the same effects on your brain as drug addiction.

A similar, earlier study at the U.S. National Library of Medicine found that abusing drugs like cocaine caused the gray matter in the brain to shrink in the same way a smartphone did.

The German researchers found 22 people who were addicted to smartphones, and 26 others who were not.

Among the addicts, MRIs showed decreased gray matter in places like the left anterior insula, which is responsible for emotions, the inferior temporal, which uses memory to identify objects, and the parahippocampal cortex, which is a key memory processor.

Earlier studies indicate smartphone addiction releases dopamine and stimulates the brain’s central nervous system in a way similar to snorting a line of cocaine.

“Given their widespread use and the increasing popularity, the present study questions the harmlessness of smartphones, at least in individuals that may be at increased risk for developing smartphone-related addictive behaviors,” the German researchers concluded.

Smartphone manufacturers are not unaware of the issue, although they may dispute the extent of the danger.

Apple, for one, has announced a new feature to help users cut screentime.

It will allow iPhone users to change screen colors to gray, to make phones less fun to use, while still functional.

A Canadian grad student launched the website Go Gray last year to promote the idea.

The student, Rehman Ata at Ryerson University, said “grayscaling” could drain our virtual world of over-stimulating distractions, allowing us to “see the colors in the world again.”

Users report grayscaling makes your phone too boring to use for more than a few minutes at a time, and require more, tiring concentration.

Other methods, of course, can be adapted from techniques used to combat other types of addictions.

If you want to try out grayscale on iOS 11, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations > Color Filters. Switch Color Filters on, and choose Grayscale. On Android, go to Settings > Accessibility > Grayscale. Or you can try one of the apps like Greyscale or SPACE, created to dim or change the color of your screen in customized shades,

If you’re having trouble sleeping, feel lonely and lose interest in real-life activities, check out how much time you’re spending on your phone.

It may be time to unplug and give the real world a chance.