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Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

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Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#221

Post by wruza »

doix wrote: post #208
brigade wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as I don’t need research either to know that dark mode inherently increases eye strain thanks to the afterimages caused by using it for more than a couple dozen seconds at a time. I have my own two eyes after all, and plenty of other eyes across the web agree.

> Just as I don’t need research either to know that dark mode inherently increases eye strain thanks to the afterimages caused by using it for more than a couple dozen seconds at a time. You've probably got your brightness too high if you're getting after images. I use darkmode when I'm inside and turn my monitor brightness down. When I'm outside, I switch to lightmode and max out my monitor display. Work for me. I s…

It’s too dim and too low contrast for me when I dial it down and leaves afterimages when it’s enough. It is a personal thing.

Also, for programming I’m using not dark nor bright mode. Something like #ddd on #444 on well-calibrated settings. Almost all sites which implement dark mode are much closer to #neutron_star on #black_hole than that, so I hate them when they fail to follow an OS setting.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#222

Post by atoav »

BeetleB wrote: post #178
alpos wrote: post #72

This post seems to boil down to, "I read a summary of one study, so I am confident in telling you all how wrong you are". Thanks but I'll let the scientific process play itself out over time. In the mean time, I appreciate that the public debate has induced phones, apps, and many web sites to give me the option to enjoy reading things all day without eye strain. The fact that more stuff defaults dark mode or follows…

> This post seems to boil down to, "I read a summary of one study, so I am confident in telling you all how wrong you are". Most/all of the points were well known back in the days when I used CRT monitors - he's not reporting something new. In fact, reading some of the comments, I'm quite surprised people still believe there are inherent benefits to dark mode. There's not really much research supporting it. It's just…

I mean it depends also on the type of looking you are doing. When I write actual prose the way I have to focus on text is different than when I code (which requires a more two-dimensional focus). P For me personally I am fine with black on white on the former while I prefer dark mode on the latter.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#223

Post by IncRnd »

BossingAround wrote: post #207
IncRnd wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My comment does not mention anecdotal evidence but a person using their eyes to perform an experiment. That is clearly not anecdotal. It is ridiculous for people with eyes to not use their own eyes except to read studies as to whether their own eyes prefer light or dark. That should be obvious.

> My comment does not mention anecdotal evidence but a person using their eyes to perform an experiment. That is clearly not anecdotal. It is clearly anecdotal [1] at the very least to everyone else that reads your comment. It is also clearly insufficient to draw any scientifically valid conclusions. [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anecdotal%20evide...

> It is clearly anecdotal [1] at the very least to everyone else that reads your comment. It is also clearly insufficient to draw any scientifically valid conclusions.

You are simply repeating something enough that you believe it to be true. You are misinformed about the meaning of the word anecdotal [1] and appear to be playing word games between "anecdotal", "anecdotal evidence", and a misunderstanding of what I wrote.

> It is also clearly insufficient to draw any scientifically valid conclusions.

What is the "it" in your comment? An experiment that someone performs is not anecdotal. [2]

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anecdotal

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#224

Post by IncRnd »

brabel wrote: post #215
IncRnd wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In fact, reading some of the comments, I'm quite surprised people still believe there are inherent benefits to dark mode. There's not really much research supporting it. That's actually kind of ridiculous. I don't need to read other's research about dark mode to know how it lessens eye-strain. I have performed the experiment myself with my own eyes.

OMG didn't expect to see the "I know this is true and I don't need researchers telling me otherwise" argument here.

> OMG didn't expect to see the "I know this is true and I don't need researchers telling me otherwise" argument here.

And, you didn't see that here. That you would even think that shows that you didn't read what was written.

It is ridiculous to wait for what others say about whether dark or light mode strains one's eyes more, since each person already has a pair of eyes to test what works for them.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#225

Post by IncRnd »

BeetleB wrote: post #213
IncRnd wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My comment does not mention anecdotal evidence but a person using their eyes to perform an experiment. That is clearly not anecdotal. It is ridiculous for people with eyes to not use their own eyes except to read studies as to whether their own eyes prefer light or dark. That should be obvious.

> It is ridiculous for people with eyes to not use their own eyes except to read studies as to whether their own eyes prefer light or dark. What part of "It's just a preference thing" are you disputing?

> What part of "It's just a preference thing" are you disputing?

That wasn't part of my comment, which I why I didn't quote that.

> I'm quite surprised people still believe there are inherent benefits to dark mode. There's not really much research supporting it.

You were not saying "it's just a preference thing" there.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#226

Post by kriro »

IncRnd wrote: post #202
verinus wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

err well- anecdotal evidence may be a good basis for a theory that could be validated using an experiment, but it does not suffice to be calling somebody elses' argument ridiculous...

My comment does not mention anecdotal evidence but a person using their eyes to perform an experiment. That is clearly not anecdotal. It is ridiculous for people with eyes to not use their own eyes except to read studies as to whether their own eyes prefer light or dark. That should be obvious.

The problem with this approach is that it is biased towards short term effects at the cost of long term effects and when you realize this it's too late already. "Feels better" is obviously a very good heuristic and usually what's good short term is probably more likely to be good than bad long term and millions of people rely on this heuristic but it's good to be aware of the shortcomings of this approach.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#227

Post by dotancohen »

nextaccountic wrote: post #194
kitsunesoba wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The monitor brightness struggle was something I encountered first a 3 or so years ago when I moved into place with big windows that got a lot of natural light during the latter half of the day, even in the winter. Garden variety 250-350 nit displays really struggle with that kind of light, even if it's indirect and the screen in question is matte. 400-450 nits I've found is about the minimum for universally usable di…

Is it possible to have a 500 or 600 nits display, but still have the lowest brightness settings be equal or lower than the lowest settings of a 250 nits display? That's my biggest issue

Going below 50% brightness on _most_ monitors brings the flickering into the realm that many humans can perceive. This is because the physical brightness cannot actually be controlled, so PWM is used to adjust perceived brightness.

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#229

Post by skeletal88 »

wincy wrote: post #94

I was a big believer in dark mode for a long time, until I started trying to reduce my SAD symptoms during the winter time. I read this blog post here [0] after seeing it on HN, and ended up buying 28 100W equivalent bulbs and a 500W equivalent corn bulb. I get a pretty decent amount of light in my home office now, and light mode is essential on my workstation or it's almost impossible to even SEE anything on screen,…

Can you not use random acronyms without explaining what they are? Why do you expect that everyone knows what SAD means in your current context? I get it when someone mentions AWS or MSFT or LED on a tech site.. but "SAD syndrome" ?

Re: Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)

#230

Post by animuchan »

davidhs wrote: post #48

I have lots of eye floaters which annoy me when I'm looking at bright uniform surfaces, such as white paper or white background, but I hardly notice them with dark mode.

Came here to write this exact comment. Floaters are distracting and break the flow. Dark theme means less distractions. This was probably the easiest choice I made in my life.
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