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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)

#301

Post by TheCapeGreek »

climb_stealth wrote: post #218
TheCapeGreek wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If so, then why should your screen be pure white? This is what it boils down to for most people. Using a less-than-pure white or a cream colour like HN makes for a much more pleasant read. At night it's often still too bright for me, but I'm happy to switch modes according to how I feel at the time.

I find it works to run something like f.lux at all times. Whenever I have to turn it off for whatever reason it comes as a shock how bright everything is. I can't imagine working with that all day. Basically, make light mode pleasant by using f.lux. Then there are no unpleasant transitions whenever something doesn't play along with dark mode.

For me even with blue light blockers it's still too bright if my room is dark at night. When I turn it off (e.g. when the red intensity is very high for color quality in games) and switch to a light web page it's blinding.

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

#302

Post by Koshkin »

theclansman wrote: post #278
inexcf wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I interest you in some homeopathic remedies or a bottle of snake oil? Maybe prayer? History is full of people who thought/think their bias and anecdotal evidence is good enough.

Just trust the science bro

“Science” is such an empty word, though. “Knowledge” and “research” are more concrete, and you can always ask whether knowledge is reliable and where its limit lie, and whether research is trustworthy.

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

#303

Post by ho_schi »

KaiserPro wrote: post #270
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…

Look, darkmode, and the bluelight fear is not really based on that much science. Yes, UV and top end blue does cause cataracts in people, but thats from the sun, not monitors. There are at least two strands to darkmode, one is the "It stops me from sleeping" and the other is eye strain. the sleeping part is almost certainly nothing to do with the colour temperature of the light coming out of your device. If you go ou…

"Dark mode" and "blue light" and so on remember me also of vertical mice to avoid strain in the "mouse hand". It is not the orientation of the mouse which hurts, it is holding that thing for hours. Solutions? Vary. Mostly using the keyboard for all appropriate tasks (contrary to typewriters you don't need much force to push a key) and place it in a comfortable distance for you, using a TrackPoint, a digitizer pen and tablet, using a bigger or smaller mouse appropriate for your hand and of course do something other with you're hand.

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

#306

Post by brabel »

IncRnd wrote: post #224
brabel wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That you still don't accept that this is exactly the argument you're making is unbelievable.

It shows just how people who see themselves as smart and scientific leaning can still fall to the same fallacies as any fool.

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

#307

Post by tryfinally »

manmal wrote: post #304

Those night light tools (flux etc) don’t remove that much blue light. Reducing light output (eg by, ahem, using dark mode) is the surest way to reduce blue light emissions.

Precisely. TFA misses this point completely: "A better remedy for eye strain would be to enable night light on your operating system, which will reduce the your screen’s blue light output."

I simply use both, checkmate.

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

#308

Post by theshrike79 »

ho_schi wrote: post #303
KaiserPro wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look, darkmode, and the bluelight fear is not really based on that much science. Yes, UV and top end blue does cause cataracts in people, but thats from the sun, not monitors. There are at least two strands to darkmode, one is the "It stops me from sleeping" and the other is eye strain. the sleeping part is almost certainly nothing to do with the colour temperature of the light coming out of your device. If you go ou…

"Dark mode" and "blue light" and so on remember me also of vertical mice to avoid strain in the "mouse hand". It is not the orientation of the mouse which hurts, it is holding that thing for hours. Solutions? Vary. Mostly using the keyboard for all appropriate tasks (contrary to typewriters you don't need much force to push a key) and place it in a comfortable distance for you, using a TrackPoint, a digitizer pen and…

People also started using weird vertical-gripped "ergonomic" knives[0] during that time. They were absolutely horrible to use.

There is a tiny demographic of people with actual joint issues, but for anyone else a regular knife is just fine as long as you use the correct grip.

[0] https://www.arthritissupplies.com/assets/images/ape103-easi-...

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

#309

Post by wincy »

wheels wrote: post #277
wheels wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm interested in your light setup, particularly if you happen to use high-CRI bulbs. It also took me ages to realize how large of an effect SAD had on me. I grew up in Texas, where it wasn't much of a thing, but went to college in Michigan and then moved to Germany (where I've been for 20 years) and it took me multiple years to notice the pattern of only struggling with what I'd previously dubbed "burn out" in the w…

To add a couple concrete questions: - Did you experiment with any of the super high powered single LEDs? (e.g. 200-500w) - How big a problem is monitor glare? Do you have a special monitor (e.g. Studio Display)? I have a 400 nit monitor (brightest 42" IPS monitor at the time I bought it), and I'm worried about going all in on lighting, and then not being able to effectively being able to use my monitor.

I haven’t used any super high powered LEDs mostly because I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to this. I spent $35 on a clearance corn bulb that uses 100W and outputs 10,000 lumens, but I’m not sure I’d recommend them as the light output seems “dirtier” (i.e. it flickers in webcams). Buying $120 worth of 1600 lumen each bulbs was incremental and I bought an 8 pack every few weeks until I’d filled all my light sockets.

I’m using ~400-450 nits brightness monitors and it’s fine in light mode. I can make things out in dark mode but it’s less pleasant.

I don’t get monitor glare but maybe that’s due to positioning? I have the corn bulb up and to the left of me and the 28 bulbs are stuck into the ceiling fan (which looks silly but works!)

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

#310

Post by 867-5309 »

adql wrote: post #275
mcv wrote: post #237

I think the issue is a lot more subtle than simply "dark mode = better" vs "light mode = better". When it's dark around me, I don't want a bright white screen blinding me, so I prefer dark mode. But when I'm in a well-light room with a white wall behind my screen, I don't want to have to peer at a dark rectangle. Also, whether you're using dark or light mode, contrast and brightness need to be set right, and I think…

Many dark mode themes also aren't great. With bright mode you can get away with #000 on #fff but, at very least for me, just reversing that doesn't work all that well, I prefer at the very least background to be in #111-#222 range and maybe text not be in #fff but a bit lower. On other side some dark themes have pretty terrible contrast, but that happens with white too, like HN just deciding light gray on light gray…

web developers have not been using #fff and #000 for text and backgrounds for quite some time now
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