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Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

#11

Post by user5994461 »

* Buy a good screen.

* If you work on a laptop all day, buy an external screen. (Laptop always have small and often a shitty screen)

* Adjust the brightness and the contrast. Do a google search to find some colored images with instructions how to calibrate.

* Quick rules of thumb, you can always reduce brightness to 50% right away. Modern displays are extremely bright and the out of factory settings are insane, sometimes 80% or 100%, it's like starring at a lamppost.

* In terms of positioning. Your eyes should be at the level of the top of the screen. Large displays (24" and above) can go quite tall even with the feet at the lowest position, it might not be possible to do that, it's okay if your eyes are only at 3/4 of the top of the screen.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

#12

Post by tiimbz »

Take breaks and focus your eyes on something further away - for example by looking at something outside.

The app Stretchly (free, open source) can display periodic reminders to take breaks from the screen. [0] I can't recommend it enough. It worked well for my RSI too. Alternative apps are Workrave or Workpace.

[0] https://hovancik.net/stretchly/

Re: Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

#14

Post by alex-a-soto »

I've invested in using eink monitors from Dasung. I use one in landscape and the other in portrait mode. I experience no eyestrain after making this switch, using a computer for 8+ hours a day.

My daily driver runs NixOS, i3wm as my window manager, and I've changed the editor and themes of my most commonly used applications to work with the monitors. I recommend the investment.

https://dasung-tech.myshopify.com/products/dasung-e-ink-pape...

Re: Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

#15

Post by fileeditview »

There are already a lot of good tips here. However I see that many people advocate dark mode everywhere. I think this is a bad idea. I think it puts a lot less strain on your eyes when your screen has less contrast to your room.

What that means is that I use a light theme for my editor during daylight and when my room gets dark and I realize that my screen "becomes bright" I switch to a dark theme.

Also I can recommend night mode. Gnome and others have this out of the box. What it does is fade your screen to more reddish colors when it gets dark.

Also don't use too small fonts.. this sometimes seems to be like a contest for coders: "Look i have font size 7. I need to scroll less".

And also don't use too low contrast color schemes.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

#16

Post by oblib »

I bought a monitor with a "Low Blue Light" button (it's a "BENQ" brand). I didn't buy it because of that feature and had never even heard of it before.

My first reaction was thinking it was kind of ugly so initially I didn't leave it on but after a month or so I noticed my eyes were getting strained so I tried it.

It is ugly, but it makes a big difference. Now, when I turn off the Low Blue Light mode I can instantly feel the strain on my eyes. The picture is gorgeous but it's too bright and intense for work. Since I use several monitors I manually adjusted the others to reduce the blue.

The biggest downside is selecting colors for design work. The Low Blue Light screws that big time, but after comparing how different colors look on different monitors I decided not to worry about that too much because I have no control over that at all.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

#17

Post by auganov »

Screen time itself shouldn't cause eyestrain. Reading is the most likely culprit. Pay attention to when you're actually exerting your eyes. For example, when trying to read a very small font you should feel your eyes working harder. See if reading a larger font feels easier. But sometimes it could be something more subtle like reading technique. Perhaps you're fixating on words or some details for too long.

I hardly ever get eyestrain. But when very focused on a task for long hours, I find I may inadvertently exert my eyes more. Never happens with casual reading.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

#18

Post by ehejsbbejsk »

I am going to suggest Eizo (and similar high end) monitors. High quality and uniform monitors do wonders for prolong use. You might also want to use greyscale-only on alternate days if your work can accommodate it. Last but most important, train yourself to blink 2x more often.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

#19

Post by burkemw3 »

I got glasses that were focused at approximately the distance my monitor is from my face (~1 arm length).

I'm near sighted and the monitor starts getting blurry at just the right distance. I have glasses for nearsightedness that are focused very far out (the common case). Wearing them for constant work at arms length really tired my eyes out. So, I'd frequently work without my glasses, but hunch forward a little to make seeing things easier.

With glasses dedicated for computer work, I can read everything I need to, my body can stay in the position it should be, and my eyes don't get nearly as tired.

As a side benefit, the glasses help me focus in other areas of my life. I frequently wear them while cooking, and it helps me do one thing at time, as other stuff is blurry.

Re: Ask HN: How do you prevent eyestrain with daily computer use?

#20

Post by harlanji »

user5994461 wrote: post #11

* Buy a good screen. * If you work on a laptop all day, buy an external screen. (Laptop always have small and often a shitty screen) * Adjust the brightness and the contrast. Do a google search to find some colored images with instructions how to calibrate. * Quick rules of thumb, you can always reduce brightness to 50% right away. Modern displays are extremely bright and the out of factory settings are insane, somet…

I always have to throw in the homeless angle, but when people expect me to be able to produce out of the back of a Honda Civic with a ghetto rigged 15A/120W circuit + 30W solar and no tint and priviously no license or insurance (anxiety, ducking cops)... I just smiled and said let me write a book with reasons you’re out of your mind—poverty reduces to physics. I’m doing my best and overcoming obstacles, but yea, there is a cognitive dissonance between universally accepting things like this and then expecting a homeless person to be producing as though they have office space.

Good list tho.

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