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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)

#191

Post by xigoi »

michaelteter wrote: post #141

The light vs dark mode topic has come up several times on HN in the last few years, and it seems for one group that it is a religious conflict. That group seems especially (and aggressively) vocal in rejecting any observations or opinions from the other side. Each should use what they like, and eyes (and the brains that they depend on) are pretty unique. Therefore, I would not expect any two people to look at the sam…

> Viewers may be in environments with high ambient light. Dark mode, viewed in a very bright environment, can be difficult or even impossible to see if the ambient brightness is very high.

Viewers may also be in environments with low ambient light, where staring into a white light is painful.

> Video/image compression tends to result in poorer output for lower contrast content

Contrast and dark mode are two separate issues. Most popular dark themes are low-contrast for some reason, but it doesn't have to be that way.

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

#192

Post by andruby »

wincy wrote: post #177
andruby wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I added a diy 50W LED that shines on the white ceiling of my office room. The diffuse bounced light feels closer to sunlight. It’s wonderful for those darker days. Make sure to get a high-CRI led, that’s what really makes the difference in my opinion. Cheap leds will have a narrow frequency band, high CRI is what makes the reflected light feel more real. I use a cpu heatsink with silent fan to keep the led cool. [0]…

Fascinating, I’d be interested in seeing what ten or even twenty of these could do to a room. I’m curious how many lux I could get in a room without tripping a breaker. The added benefit is I don’t have to run a space heater!

Honestly, a single 50W led is more than enough for an office sized room. That’s not a lot of heat.

We’ve got 16A circuits at 220V here, so you could do about 70 of those before tripping a breaker :D

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

#193

Post by 411111111111111 »

wincy wrote: post #153
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…

This has absolutely been my struggle since upgrading my lighting. It’s also so difficult to find data about how bright a monitor actually is! I bought some 1440p “gaming monitors” that I think are around 450 nits, and these are just barely bright enough for my newly lit up office.

This one has pretty decent brightness and comes with great blacks too.

And the widescreen format is great for development.

The 34" is basically an extended 27", whereas the 38" is an extended 32"

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/alienware-34-curved-qd-oled-...

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

#194

Post by nextaccountic »

kitsunesoba wrote: post #114
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,…

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

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

#195

Post by tommica »

wincy wrote: post #170
wpietri wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you please tell us more about your bulbs? Like you, I found a huge improvement in mood if I use light cues to help convince my body that I live in an eternal late spring. So far I've used Hue bulbs, as I love their color temperature range and the ease of programming. (For me it helps that a plausible day-night cycle just happens in my house.) But I've wondered if daylight-like lumens would be even better. And H…

I use Hue Bulbs in the rest of my house and they slowly dim in the evening, although you’re absolutely right that it’d cost thousands to buy enough hue bulbs. You’re better off buying dumb bulbs for daytime then equipping the rest of the house with Hue for a few hundred. I just went to Home Depot and bought the 8-packs of 100W (13W) equivalent, 5000K, 1600 lumen non dimmable LED bulbs from Feit Electric. Screwed thos…

Isn't the electricity cost of those insane?

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

#196

Post by IncRnd »

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…

> 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.

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

#197

Post by Jarwain »

sooheon wrote: post #148
apmee wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bit of a long shot, but I don't suppose you'd happen to know where to find that post or what it was called?

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-28904-x Proposes that black on white text stimulates a pattern of expression in visual system that may contribute to myopia: > Using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in young human subjects, we found that the choroid, the heavily perfused layer behind the retina in the eye, becomes about 16 µm thinner in only one hour when subjects read black text on white background but a…

Doesn't your quoted passage say the opposite? Reading white text on a black screen may inhibit myopia, and black text on white background does the opposite?

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

#198

Post by verinus »

IncRnd wrote: post #196
BeetleB wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> 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.

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...

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

#199

Post by wbsun »

I feel it is better for my eyes in all environments than bright mode. I am very nearsighted.

But, both modes hurt your eyes as long as you have to read on screen or even on paper. My aunt used to be pretty nearsighted as a student (-6.00 on both eyes), after she graduated and started a job that only required a little reading, her vision improved dramatically to better than -1.50 within a year. A few years later she completely got rid of eye glasses.

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