
The Hidden Psychology of Wearing Glasses - pepys
http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/more-than-just-four-eyes-the-hidden-psychology-of-wearing-glasses
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sgift
You are handicapped when you have to wear glasses (at least above a certain
threshold - I cannot comment for people with only slight sight impairment).
Last year I've decided to finally end this misery and got my eyesight fixed.
I've gone from -12/-9 (extreme shortsightedness) to normal eyesight and don't
have to wear glasses anymore

.. the change is profound but hard to describe. Sometimes, I just stand there
and look at things in a distance I couldn't see before, even with glasses.
Sometimes, I just look into one direction and try to notice what I can see
from the corner of the eyes. An area which was completely non-existent to me
before. I've also noticed that my eyes lack certain reflexes which you would
normally expect: When I take a handkerchief and one corner goes near my eyes,
you would normally expect that they close (corneal reflex) .. but mine often
don't and I've hit my cornea at various times, probably because my brain
somehow expects that the handkerchief cannot hit the eye "there will be a
barrier" .. well, there's no barrier anymore. Then I sometimes stare at
objects in half-dark conditions and wonder if my eyesight is still not perfect
or if this is the way "normal" eyes see such things (according to all tests my
eyes are perfect, so what I see is normal .. just unexpected maybe?). In the
end, the most profound change is that I don't have to take care of my glasses
anymore and they cannot fault in the worst situations. When I was the best man
at a wedding and the nose pads of my glasses broke off .. I'm not angry if I
won't have this experience ever again.

~~~
enobrev
About 7 or so years ago, after wearing glasses for somewhere around 20 years,
I also had my eyesight fixed.

What surprised me the most was how completely natural it was. For the first 2
weeks, I habitually tried to push my non-existent glasses up the bridge of my
nose. Maybe 2 or 3 months after the procedure, I'd basically forgotten that
I'd ever had glasses, except when someone reminded me.

When friends asked the difference, whether it was worth it, etc, I had a hard
time relating to what it was like to have glasses / contacts. I remember the
details. Doctor visits, bent rims, ordering contacts, the inability to drive,
etc. But I'd completely forgotten the experience, as though I've always had
perfect vision.

~~~
visakanv
That's really interesting!

I think this is the case whenever something gets simpler + more gratifying. We
can remember the inconvenience of the old way of doing things, but we don't
quite remember the experience- because the new experience becomes our default
reality. I remember reading Francis Bacon's A New Atlantic, and thinking "This
isn't really that revolutionary... it's just people doing things in a
rigorous, scientific sort of manner."

(A product corollary– Consider how Google and Facebook often seem like they've
always been around!)

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SeanDav
> _" And unless one’s situation is particularly dire, no one really has to
> wear glasses anymore; alternatives like contacts and LASIK are there for the
> choosing"_

As a long time glasses wearer, I don't agree with this. For me contacts were a
pain, literally and figuratively. I always found them slightly uncomfortable,
with the constant threat of potentially devastating eye infection. As far as
laser surgery, like all surgery, can have side effects or complications
ranging from minor to life changing. Besides, the idea of melting my eyeballs
never much appealed! The long term effects were not well understood either,
although that is probably not true anymore.

~~~
icebraining
In fact, if my friends and family are representative of the general
population, I'd say that wearing contacts is much more of a fashion choice
than glasses. Most contacts wearers I know tell me they're less comfortable,
and many keep a pair of glasses to wear in their homes.

~~~
rlpb
I wear extended wear contact lenses, find them quite comfortable, and prefer
them to glasses from a comfort perspective. They're much better than regular
dailies or monthlies for comfort. The only downside is the maintenance.
Although reduced for extended wear (I only have to mess with them every five
days, or they get uncomfortable), I am meticulous about cleanliness to reduce
infection risk and so it takes considerable time to get my hands clean and dry
and to then thoroughly clean the lenses. This is a pain to do compared to no-
maintenance glasses.

I do often wear glasses at home, but only because it's convenient to fit my
extended wear scheduled breaks (five days on, two days off, replace monthly)
around being at home. If I'm already wearing contacts, I don't choose to
switch to glasses at home until my schedule requires it. If I could have the
same experience I have for the first five days continuously and safely, I
would never take the contacts out.

But I may be an exception. I used to suffer from recurrent corneal erosion.
Perhaps this causes my eyes to be less comfortable than normal when not
wearing lenses.

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aswerty
This is just a poor article. The author mentions armchair psychology at one
point, and for me that is probably the best way to sum it up.

I've worn glasses for the last 12 years (full time for 10 of them) ever since
my eye sight deteriorated at the age of 15. But to compare glasses to a wheel
chair, for most glasses wearers, is just absurd.

When I go into get new glasses the main thing I do is see how they look like
on my head. The lenses are a commodity; how the frame looks on my face (and
the lens is fitted to the frame) is what I care about. It is no surprise that
they have become fashion accessories, especially now you can get glasses in
dozens of designer brand names.

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ekianjo
> But glasses are medical devices, first and foremost. Putting them on for
> fashion alone feels like faking a wheelchair-bound injury at a theme park to
> jump to the front of the line.

Well, I guess in Japan the market has decided for you. There's tons of girls
nowadays wearing glasses not for vision for just for fashion. And even for the
ones who need glasses for vision, buying glasses has never been so cheap over
here, and you can easily have one pair for each day of the week if you so
wish. So it's clearly a commodity nowadays, and therefore fashion drives sales
further compared to it just being for vision only.

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Mz
Interesting read. I quit wearing glasses a few years ago without getting my
eyes fixed. I had given up my car the year before and, at some point, I
realized I didn't really need my glasses anymore. I am nearsighted and I can
work on a computer without glasses. I only really needed them for driving.
There are ways in which it is still apparent that I don't have the best
eyesight -- like when I can't read a street sign from a distance. But with
walking and taking public transit, it is usually not a big deal. It's one of
the ways in which becoming a pedestrian has been freeing, and without having
to go through a frightening surgery first.

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arrrg
Glasses are right in the middle of your face! That’s prime real estate.
Obviously they are all about fashion (if you can afford it). Like, isn’t that
the first thing everyone cares about when buying glasses? Not what lenses to
get, but which frames? I certainly do. (Though my optician just told me that I
don’t need glasses anymore after more than a decade with them. I’m still
slightly sad about that, actually.) I really don’t see anything wrong with
that, either.

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tempodox
When I saw the headline, I thought it was about Google Glass. I had to read it
thrice to convince myself it is just about glasses. Holy cow, am I in dire
need of a vacation or just brainwashed?

~~~
sgift
I expected AR glasses at first, probably because of the combination of glasses
and psmag, which I thought would be "playstation magazine". So .. vacation
sounds good?

------
Kiro
I'm wearing glasses because I think I look straight up ugly without them.
Maybe it's all in my head but I'm almost afraid of showing myself without
glasses.

------
niche
The Art of Seeing ~ Aldous Huxley

