Does it really? After reading 30 minutes of a PDF I knock out! :P
Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
21–30 of 51 posts
Re: Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
#22This article is poorly titled. Disappointing since the BBC is capable of better journalism than this. They should be specific that it is backlit LCD screens (especially LED backlights since their spectrum is predominantly in the blue range which simulates morning) rather than what is typically meant when someone says E-readers, ie: readers that use E-Ink panels which are not backlit and thus rely on ambient light.
I agree that BBC is capable of better journalism. This resonates with the article 'Why so many health articles are junk' posted 5 days ago on HN. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8764871
Re: Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
#23is the same case with having my macbook pro on my bed every night before I sleep?
Re: Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
#24If you really have to read with a backlit display on your iPad or another device, just get flux[1].
Re: Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
#25Probably the only useful line in the article: > The light emitted by most e-readers is shining directly into the eyes of the reader, whereas from a printed book or the original Kindle, the reader is only exposed to reflected light from the pages of the book. So it's talking entirely about brightly backlit tablets, not e-readers with e-ink.
Since 2012, Amazon's high-end Kindles (the 2012 Paperwhite, the 2013 Paperwhite and the 2014 Voyage) shine light directly into the eyes. It looks just like a backlit display although technically the light and the diffusion panel are in front of an opaque (e-ink) display, not in back of a translucent (LC) display. On my Paperwhite, it is impossible to turn this light off -- only to dim it. Also, I dispute the OP's con…
> an iPad probably has less of a deleterious effect on sleep than a Kindle Paperwhite does
uh, how so? You didn't give an argument for this point. At the very least Kindles go far dimmer than iPads do.
Re: Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
#26If you really have to read with a backlit display on your iPad or another device, just get flux[1]. [1] https://justgetflux.com/
Can't believe I have to jailbreak my phone to get f.lux on my phone. Love it on my Mac. Seems so obvious.
Re: Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
#27Any kind of bright light at night is going to reduce your melatonin production. This problem goes all the way back to the introduction of incandescent lighting, e-readers are just the latest chapter.
The retina contains receptors sensitive to blue light, and stimulating them suppresses melatonin production:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrinsically_photosensitive_r...
Other frequencies also suppress melatonin production, but less strongly.
If you look at the progression of artificial lighting, from candles, to incandescent, to halogen incandescent, to fluorescent, to LED, each generation typically increases both the blue light production and the brightness. Such strongly blue spectrum isn't an essential feature of the technology, so I suspect that it's marketing driven because it looks more futuristic.
Additionally, a lot of LED lighting flickers at frequencies that are visible when you move your eyes via the phantom array effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flicker_fusion_threshold#Visua... I personally find this very annoying, but even if you don't consciously notice this it's something not found in nature, and I'm not aware of any long term safety studies.
I'm very skeptical of these changes. Humans have a poor track record of predicting safety implications of new technology (eg. radioactive materials as health products, leaded gasoline, etc).
Re: Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
#28We just need f.lux[1] for our tablets. [1] https://justgetflux.com/
For Android, try Lux Auto Brightness . I have been using it for years both on my phone and tablets. * https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vito.lux&h...
Thanks. I've been using Twilight[1] so far but it's not as nice as f.lux on my desktop screen, so I'll give this a try.
1: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid...
Re: Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
#29F.lux has this study on their webpage. https://justgetflux.com/research.html http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/12/18/1418490112.full... I was really hoping for research comparing F.lux to a non-backlit screen; this seems to tell us what we already knew.
The journal article says that they even set the brightness of the "LE-eBook" (iPad) to maximum.
I guess we'll have to wait for more detailed studies.
Re: Backlit e-readers 'damage sleep and health'
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since 2012, Amazon's high-end Kindles (the 2012 Paperwhite, the 2013 Paperwhite and the 2014 Voyage) shine light directly into the eyes. It looks just like a backlit display although technically the light and the diffusion panel are in front of an opaque (e-ink) display, not in back of a translucent (LC) display. On my Paperwhite, it is impossible to turn this light off -- only to dim it. Also, I dispute the OP's con…
The Paperwhite isn't a backlit display. The LEDs in the Paperwhite Kindles do not shine light directly in the eyes: the leds shine from below the screen towards the top end of the screen. As it exits the LEDs, light is reflected inside a light guide from which it exits towards the display from specific holes, much like a leaky fiberoptic cable[1]. The directionality and position of the LEDs, and the existence of the…
That's the same with smartphones and tablets.
For the sake of simplicity and to keep it as thin as possible, they use edge-LED lighting with a diffusor layer to spread the light evenly.