diff --git a/lib/pangea/events/utils/message_text_util.dart b/lib/pangea/events/utils/message_text_util.dart
index fd64df563..c5bf93ae0 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/events/utils/message_text_util.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/events/utils/message_text_util.dart
@@ -46,7 +46,9 @@ class MessageTextUtil {
               start: globalIndex,
               end: startIndex,
               hideContent: false,
-              selected: (isSelected?.call(token) ?? false) && !hasHiddenContent,
+              // selected: (isSelected?.call(token) ?? false) && !hasHiddenContent,
+              highlight:
+                  (isSelected?.call(token) ?? false) && !hasHiddenContent,
             ),
           );
         }
@@ -57,7 +59,10 @@ class MessageTextUtil {
             end: endIndex,
             token: token,
             hideContent: hideContent,
-            selected: (isSelected?.call(token) ?? false) &&
+            // selected: (isSelected?.call(token) ?? false) &&
+            //     !hideContent &&
+            //     !hasHiddenContent,
+            highlight: (isSelected?.call(token) ?? false) &&
                 !hideContent &&
                 !hasHiddenContent,
           ),
diff --git a/lib/pangea/toolbar/widgets/message_token_text.dart b/lib/pangea/toolbar/widgets/message_token_text.dart
index 4c04bcebf..e6492f18d 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/toolbar/widgets/message_token_text.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/toolbar/widgets/message_token_text.dart
@@ -3,12 +3,10 @@ import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
 
 import 'package:collection/collection.dart';
 
-import 'package:fluffychat/config/app_config.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/analytics/controllers/message_analytics_controller.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/events/event_wrappers/pangea_message_event.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/events/models/pangea_token_model.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/events/utils/message_text_util.dart';
-import 'package:fluffychat/pangea/toolbar/enums/activity_type_enum.dart';
 import 'package:fluffychat/widgets/matrix.dart';
 
 /// Question - does this need to be stateful or does this work?
@@ -71,7 +69,7 @@ class MessageTokenText extends StatelessWidget {
 class TokenPosition {
   final int start;
   final int end;
-  final bool selected;
+  final bool highlight;
   final bool hideContent;
   final PangeaToken? token;
 
@@ -79,7 +77,7 @@ class TokenPosition {
     required this.start,
     required this.end,
     required this.hideContent,
-    required this.selected,
+    required this.highlight,
     this.token,
   });
 }
@@ -178,19 +176,6 @@ class MessageTextWidget extends StatelessWidget {
       text: TextSpan(
         children:
             tokenPositions.mapIndexed((int i, TokenPosition tokenPosition) {
-          final shouldDo = tokenPosition.token?.shouldDoActivity(
-                a: ActivityTypeEnum.wordMeaning,
-                feature: null,
-                tag: null,
-              ) ??
-              false;
-
-          final didMeaningActivity =
-              tokenPosition.token?.didActivitySuccessfully(
-                    ActivityTypeEnum.wordMeaning,
-                  ) ??
-                  true;
-
           final substring = messageCharacters
               .skip(tokenPosition.start)
               .take(tokenPosition.end - tokenPosition.start)
@@ -214,13 +199,11 @@ class MessageTextWidget extends StatelessWidget {
               text: substring,
               style: style.merge(
                 TextStyle(
-                  backgroundColor: tokenPosition.selected
-                      ? AppConfig.primaryColor.withAlpha(80)
-                      : (isSelected != null && shouldDo)
-                          ? !didMeaningActivity
-                              ? AppConfig.success.withAlpha(60)
-                              : AppConfig.gold.withAlpha(60)
-                          : Colors.transparent,
+                  backgroundColor: tokenPosition.highlight
+                      ? Theme.of(context).brightness == Brightness.light
+                          ? Colors.black.withAlpha(100)
+                          : Colors.white.withAlpha(100)
+                      : Colors.transparent,
                 ),
               ),
             );
diff --git a/lib/pangea/toolbar/widgets/overlay_message.dart b/lib/pangea/toolbar/widgets/overlay_message.dart
index 2c5e10792..93959258c 100644
--- a/lib/pangea/toolbar/widgets/overlay_message.dart
+++ b/lib/pangea/toolbar/widgets/overlay_message.dart
@@ -82,10 +82,7 @@ class OverlayMessage extends StatelessWidget {
     if (ownMessage) {
       color = displayEvent.status.isError
           ? Colors.redAccent
-          : Color.alphaBlend(
-              Colors.white.withAlpha(180),
-              ThemeData.dark().colorScheme.primary,
-            );
+          : theme.colorScheme.primary;
     }
 
     final noBubble = {
@@ -99,9 +96,8 @@ class OverlayMessage extends StatelessWidget {
       MessageTypes.Audio,
     }.contains(event.messageType);
 
-    final textColor = ownMessage
-        ? ThemeData.dark().colorScheme.onPrimary
-        : theme.colorScheme.onSurface;
+    final textColor =
+        ownMessage ? theme.colorScheme.onPrimary : theme.colorScheme.onSurface;
 
     return Material(
       color: color,