Is America Going Black and White Again? - The Wizard of Oz, Gen Z's Grayscale Rebellion, and the Overstimulation Era

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 TakeawaysBy 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 CitedBASF (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 VetRead 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 MailAbout 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.Join 20,000+ Leaders for Weekly InsightsIf you want deeper research and behind-the-scenes insights on generations and the future of culture and society, join Ryan’s weekly newsletter:👉 https://ryanvet.com/collide