I’ve been mulling over Kev’s opinion of Dark Mode, and wanted to share my perspective.
I am constantly staring at a plethora of different screens: TV, laptops, mobile phones, and various Nintendo handhelds over the years. After staring at something for hours on end, yes, I do get eye strain. I try to step away and take a break, but sometimes you get in your flow state and it’s hard or undesirable to break free.
A few years ago I made a strong effort to use dark mode and blue light filters as much as possible:
- f.lux
- dark mode Firefox plugins
- AMOLED black mode on mobile apps that had it available.
As time goes on, I find myself leaving the defaults on most of my applications and desktops from either re-installs or reformatting hard drives. Sometimes I’m on equipment without administrative permission or have limited display controls such as my Nintendo 3DS (now replaced with a Switch). Nothing to tweak there.
So I bought gamer glasses.
I am in agreement with Kev that there isn’t strong research on the claims on “saving your eyes” that’s hyped up by the marketing. I bought them at my local Best Buy so I could return them just in case it was all bunk. That was 4 years ago.
From my anecdotal experience, I have less eye strain while wearing them. This model has a slight magnification which is a personal preference I enjoy. I move my head from my laptop to the TV and I get the same filter. I take them off, no more blue light mode; no settings to change, no configurations to modify.
I am fortunate that I don’t need glasses (yet!). But, it has always been a lingering thought that I should do my best to maintain my vision. When the time comes, I’ll probably reevaluate if I will buy a dedicated pair of computer glasses.
Time to stare at something else besides a glowing screen for a while.
Day 4 of #100DaysToOffload