I spend all day staring at computers, but don’t wear glasses. I try to take breaks for the sake of my eyes (and back). I’ve seen a lot of ads for glasses that reduce the blue light from screens. Do these actually do anything to protect my eyes? What are the best alternatives?
Most of the glasses I've seen online are scams. Just plastic lens with UV blocking. The ones that come with a "special blue light Lazer" to demonstrate that's it's working are definitely a scam. In order to block blue light you'll need lenses with a tint. Most likely they will be tinted orange.
If you want a simple test to see how effective they are at blocking blue light, set an LED screen to blue, and see how much color comes through the lens. Most of the glasses I've seen advertised (and my wife has bought - meh lesson learned at least they were cheap) either have no tint, or it's so subtle it mind as well not be there.
Why not just toggle on "night light" in Windows 10? Doesn't it make more sense to reduce the blue color from your monitor that way instead of wearing glasses all the time? That being said, I was watching some interviews about this topic last week and the conclusion was that blue light doesn't harm your eyes, but it will keep you awake at night. So, try to reduce screen time or use the night light / f.lux later in the evening. Also, take a break a couple of times an hour for 10 seconds just to focus on something in the distance.
I have glasses with Blutech applied and have used them for a couple years. The lenses are actually kind of orange, it isn't just a coating.
I can't say I really feel any difference day to day, but I do like them and feel they're more comfortable for a long day in front of the screen. If I could do it again I'd probably opt for a less noticeable coating. I get a lot of comments saying they look like "gunner" glasses.
Oh yes. I 100% notice a difference when I wear them, mainly when my eyes are already feeling tired/dry. If they're good to go then it won't make much of a difference.
Saved my life a few times when I had to pull late hours for work.
Yes but you don't need them. 99% of people use their computers wrong. That is not a problem for normal user but for someone who spends the entire day stairing into the screen, it adds up.
So you jsut have to do the following(it takes hlaf an hour to an hour to get used to these but then it becomes normal):
- take you brightness and contrast down to 50%, no more than that, this will be weird for a while, stick with it.
- scale your DPI up by 1/4(125%) or more, until you feel like you are an old man that needs reading glasses
- make all your fonts larger, don't be affraid to go nuts, you will fine tune the size in short time - this is most important for your editor, use the font for half an hour, then see if different size fits you better. you should end up in the 15-18 range.
- put your monitor at a distance where you can't touch it with your hand when your back is touching the chair and you sin in comfportable position
- use f.lux for later hours, it removes the blue color, no need for glases, it totally works but you also need proepr light source in the room(ie. warm, not white/cold)
- never work in a dark room, always have a light source on, beside the screen itself, more is better but you have to have a solid contrast on the screen so too much light is bad.
- never sit next to a bright window, use drapes or blinds or whatever, always sit in a way that a window is sideways to you, not behind or in front of you
- don't use screen without antireflective coating or have polished plastic, if you have this monstrosity(apple'n'shiet) trow it in the bin and get a new one(dell for example)
this alone will ensure your UX will be good. there are other things for ergo like chair and desk but this is about eyes so there you go.
This is excellent advice. The antireflective coating didn’t ever do much for me but I can recommend all other tips 1000 times. Just fine tuning the brightness and level of white of my monitor and turning the orientation of my desk worked miracles.
Solid advices here, and I amazingly realize that I almost fit all of these above, cool for me, but I may also need a glasses for more protect in the future :)
