Zozano

TIL: Dark mode causes eye strain

https://lemmy.world/post/1658341

TIL: Dark mode causes eye strain - Lemmy.world

For a few years I thought dark mode was supposed to be better for your eyes, but it isn’t. When in dark mode, you’re looking at an overall darker screen, your pupils will dilate to let in more light, which makes everything just outside of focus very blurry, and gives the text a halo effect. A few minutes will be fine, but anything longer is going to make your eyes begin to strain. When in light mode, your pupils contract to accommodate for the light, this is how our eyes are supposed to work, this is going to be less straining on your eyes. In low light environments, simply turn down the brightness and apply a night light filter. If you’re going to use dark mode regardless, don’t use AMOLED unless it’s for saving battery. The contrast between bright white and pitch black is the worst combination. Consider using a soft grey, your eyes will thank you.

Jul 17, 2023 at 11:05pmWeb
Show threadWizzaJul 17, 2023
We’ve been living a lie…
Show threadZozanoJul 17, 2023
Tell me about it… Since changing back to light mode after all these years, my eyes have felt a lot less sore in only a few days, its amazing.
Show threadWizzaJul 17, 2023
That’s fair, i’ve had used a few apps for long periods of time with light mode and it is pretty nice, although i’m biased towards dark mode. Maybe it also has to do with the enviroment around you? Since a dark theme while outside in a sunny day would put some strain in your eyes?
Show threadWizzaJul 17, 2023

(Not to be that guy, the post just got me curious about it, so i looked up some more details) (Also, i rant a bit, so feel free to not read this)

Although in the article i checked, the American Academy of Opthalmology (AAO) doesn’t specifically mention Dark Mode as something that reduces or increases eye strain, it does mention that lowering the brightness (or setting dark mode in your devices) does lower the amount of blue light that the screen displays, allowing you to sleep better, by not confusing your brain into thinking that it’s still daytime. (Feel free to correct me on this, other places i saw about this mostly cite anecdotes about how well it worked for them, regarding their sleep cycle.)

It does later say that one of the ways to possibly reduce eye strain when using a screen for a long time is by lowering the glare and brightness, by dimming the screen or the like.

So my take would be that maybe a full pitch black/AMOLED theme could start putting more strain into your eyes, the regular dark grey-ish should be right, but eyes differ from person to person so it’d boil down to: Find a middle ground that works for you and doesn’t make your eyes hurt? (Also take some time to let your eyes rest, lookup the 20-20-20 rule in the 2nd article)

(Sorry about the wall of text, i might’ve gotten a bit too into this)

Sources:

healthline.com/…/is-dark-mode-better-for-your-eye… www.aao.org/…/digital-devices-your-eyes

Is Dark Mode Better For Your Eyes?

Is dark mode better for your eyes? See what blue light may have to do with it, what research says, and how to treat and prevent eye symptoms.

Healthline
Show threadggnoredoJul 17, 2023
That’s why you need to use night light feature which make color warmer
Show threadWizzaJul 17, 2023
That does work to lower the strain in your eyes (coming a person that has had one in their phone for years now) but as far as i know, that is mostly meant to lower the amount of blue light coming from your display, as to not affect your sleep cycles
Show threadEjh3kJul 17, 2023
I fucking hate dark mode so much. Reading for a short period always burns the text into my eyes like staring at a light bulb for too long.
Show threadZozanoJul 18, 2023
That’s exactly it. If you are reading in dark mode and look away, you can still see the phantom text. Its like staring at the sun and then closing your eyes (don’t do this, its dangerous)
Show threadHousePantherJul 17, 2023
Dark mode actually makes my eyes relax and I feel less prone to headaches and eye fatigue.
Show threadZozanoJul 18, 2023
Depends what you’re doing. If you’re not doing intensive reading it’s okay. If your eyes are more tired with light mode, it just means the night light filter, or the brightness isn’t adjusted right.
Show threadAatubeJul 18, 2023
Thanks, I’ll show this when my pals go berserk about getting “flashbanged”
Show threadehJul 18, 2023

Light mode only "clicked" for me when I set my monitor's brightness all the way down. If you're getting "flashbanged" turn that brightness down. It helps (or maybe my monitor is just really fucking bright)

Except Discord which somehow manages to have the worst light theme ever created by mankind. I have no idea how anyone can use light mode without going mad. Everything else's fine.

Show thread😈MedicPig🐷BabySaver😈Jul 18, 2023
No. This is crap.
Show threadsoulifixJul 18, 2023
I’ve been using the internet a long time before dark mode was a thing. I’ve served my time by dealing with too much white, everywhere, that blinds me whenever it came up suddenly.
Show threadBenHM3Aug 1, 2023

Focusing your eyes (and to a lesser extent, adjusting your iris to changing brightness) is like making a fist.

In a day’s reading, that’s happening about 30,000 times. Bit of a strain. What can we do to cut down that number or lessen the amount of muscle-force needed? Keep your irises closed down. Happens in photography all the time. Small iris-openings means a wider depth-of-field. Focused for 1m, with a small iris setting, objects at .5 and 1.5m might appear sharply focused. A really wide-open iris setting, and suddenly only objects at .9 to 1.1m are in focus.

Your eye sweeps the page/screen as you read a line. It’s unlikely that surface is perfectly curved so every letter is exactly the same distance from your eye, so a little focusing might be needed from the left, through the middle, to the right of the line. (That’s where they came up with the 30k estimate.)

So if we could pick an ideal, minimal iris opening to minimize that re-focusing during the scan, wouldn’t it be easier on our eyes?

And how do we get that minimal iris opening? With a brighter average scene. Light mode. Or perhaps “light-ish mode.” As many people have pointed out, extremes aren’t our friends. But we need contrast to read, we just don’t need it to be at 11 all the time.

YMMV. @HousePanther, you might need glasses. Strain=bad, but cyclical strain vs steady-state strain might be worse. You do you, I’m sticking with white or light backgrounds.