the "Blue Light" Craze
I am not sure I am a believer in this "blue light is bad for your eyes" thing (Google it, you'll see what I mean). It's the new medical eye theory and it proposes that blue light can cause eyestrain, myopia progression and even macular degeneration, not to mention sleep deprivation. I'm not so sure. I am not saying it doesn't cause those things, I'm just not sure it's a huge risk. I mean the Irlen people have proposed for decades that blue light is actually GOOD for your eyes (or your visual processing, anyway), especially when reading and especially for dyslexia...now we are being told that the opposite may be true. Okay, yeah whatever. But anyway I just downloaded and installed an app called "Twilight" for my Samsung Galaxy s5 that automatically adjusts the color of the screen by applying varying levels of red filters to try and alleviate the eyestrain (and damage?) thought to be associated with blue light from the device. The app varies the filters based on on the time of day, and claims to be able to increase your daily sleep cycle by "up to 1 hour". Cool idea, anyway, and not a terrible one.
TWILIGHT APP FOR ANDROID IN THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE
(A similar iphone app called "f.lux" was recently shut down by the Apple Overlords)
I've heard that looking at screens can be bad for your eyes, but I never knew it had something to do with the color of the light. I have really sensitive eyes, so I try to protect them from things like UV light already. The next time I see an optometrist, I'll be sure to ask them if they have heard about blue light harming your eyes. http://www.victoriaoptometryassoc.com/
ReplyDeletehi! i have been using f.lux on my windows laptop and desktop for maybe a year and i love it, it's been a great help with eyestrain. my room is only lit with two desk lamps (one pointing at the ceiling) and the tungsten/blue screen contrast was rather annoying. so yeah, i'm a happy user. twilight on my phone, well i haven't noticed my difference in sleep, but i like it anyway simply because i'm used to warmer color screens in the evening.
ReplyDeletefunny that blue light is suddenly harmful though, i have just begun to get used to the thought of it being really beneficial to eyesight?? oh well.
cas.
hi! i was wondering what your opinion might be on computer glasses (non prescription) such as gunnars? after a day of staring at the screen, my eyes are tired and teary. do you think these might help any? thank you!
ReplyDeletethe latest thinking in optometry is:
ReplyDelete1) best possible Rx for your computer distance (would need to see an optometrist for this)
2) block the blue light emitted from your screen (Gunnar and the like)