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Ask HN: Please share tips and strategies for dealing with eye strain

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Re: Ask HN: Please share tips and strategies for dealing with eye strain

#3

Post by geenat »

Essential:

* Flicker free monitor (non-PWM backlight).

* Dark Reader browser plugin.

Nice to have:

* Ambient lighting.

* Curved monitors (reduces constant eye re-focusing on large monitors).

* Matte finish on monitors, avoid glass to avoid glare.

Flicker free is the major one. Many LCD that use a PWM backlight are pure torture at lower brightness levels. Ironically very old LCD with an actual lamp backlight are naturally flicker free. Ambient lighting can help mitigate the stress of flicker too.

Samsung didn't get flicker free offerings until 2021-ish. BenQ has had them since about 2014. Most OLED monitors are flicker free.

Re: Ask HN: Please share tips and strategies for dealing with eye strain

#4

Post by PaulHoule »

bell-cot wrote: post #2

See a real optometrist and/or ophthalmologist. Good monitors, at the right distance for your eyes (& glasses). If you're expecting your eyes to perform like they did way back when, when you were ~20, develop realistic expectations.

For years my optometrist told me I would get presbyopia eventually, around 50 it really happened to me. Now I have a pair of distance glasses and a pair of reading glasses. It can be a hassle to pack an extra pair and change lenses but I have good vision for everything I do.

Re: Ask HN: Please share tips and strategies for dealing with eye strain

#7

Post by chewz »

I have learned that certain resolutions put too much strain on my eyes. Larger screen estaten with larger resolution isn't worth it in the long run.

It also depends on time of the year - seasonal allergy, dust, ambient light can add additional strain for my eyes.

Re: Ask HN: Please share tips and strategies for dealing with eye strain

#8

Post by duffyjp »

I had lasik and struggle with this daily. My home setup is very comfortable. I got a 43" 4K 144hz screen and my eyes are a good 4 feet from it. I use a fairly reclined chair and lapdesk.

By not focusing in all day and I can still see well after work. When staring at a laptop all day and my vision will be blurry the rest of the day.

I use Systane Ultra primarily, but Visine Multi-Action is what fixes the red. You don't want to over use Visine though, once a day if possible.

I also don't use dark-mode anything. Your pupils dilate more which makes your depth of focus much narrower so your eyes have to work harder to focus. I keep my monitor in Eco mode so it's not super bright which is also a source of strain.

My monitor also has a built in KVM which is super handy to switch between my work Macbook and personal desktop. I love it.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824716002

Re: Ask HN: Please share tips and strategies for dealing with eye strain

#10

Post by Rayhem »

geenat wrote: post #3

Essential: * Flicker free monitor (non-PWM backlight). * Dark Reader browser plugin. Nice to have: * Ambient lighting. * Curved monitors (reduces constant eye re-focusing on large monitors). * Matte finish on monitors, avoid glass to avoid glare. Flicker free is the major one. Many LCD that use a PWM backlight are pure torture at lower brightness levels. Ironically very old LCD with an actual lamp backlight are natur…

> Curved monitors (reduces constant eye re-focusing on large monitors).

Isn't this a bad thing? I've been lead to believe one of the most useful techniques to alleviate eye-strain is frequent re-focusing at a variety of distances.

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