I am reading a lot these days about eyestrain caused by LCD computer screens.
Do you find that extended LCD use has this effect? How many hours a day do you stare at an LCD?
Is there any science to support this?
Thanks, jasg
Got some links that portray LCD’s as uniquely bad in this regard?
I think eyestrain can happen any time your eyes are locked into a particular focal length for long periods of time. That includes computer displays of any type, as well as books.
Well, I read that staring at an LCD all day is like staring head on at a flashlight all day (because the LCD is backlit).
Reading a paper book or e-ink (Kindle) is different because it’s reflective light instead of backlit.
Photons is photons. Why should it make a difference that they originate from behind the screen, instead of originating somewhere else and being reflected by said screen?
Well, I haven’t measured the lumens of the photos coming off the LCD vs a dead-tree book. In any case, something is different about the LCD experience that makes it uncomfortable.
Is it the subtle flickering / refresh of the flourescent backlight?
Is it because the blacks are not truly black?
Is it something else?
I really don’t know.
I can say that the LCDs cause me much less eyestrain than CRT monitors.
But an LCD makes photons, while books and e-readers merely reflect existing ones. So in theory, with an LCD you’re getting all the relfected ones you would normalyl get, PLUS all the ones it generates. Not that I think that’s the reason for the eye-strain, I think it’s just, as said, sitting and staring in general thatdoes it.
Though I’ve found LCDs to be a lot better than CRTs. Even with a decent graphics card and moinitor so I could go up to 120 Hz, it was still bothersome. AThe worse was a few years ago (2004-2006) I had a job where my computer had an old CRT and graphics card combo that could only go to 60 Hz…oh God, the flicker!
Just the recent spate of ‘but it doesn’t have eInk’ criticisms of an unreleased device.
I probably spend 8-10 hours a day staring at an LCD and do not see the problem. CRT’s and their flicker - yes, but LCD’s seem to be flicker free.
I do keep my brightness turned down quite a bit to preserve battery life.
The LCD screens on my computer are warm to the touch, and I can feel the warmth on my face. Perhaps an e-ink screen is at ambient temperature (and certainly a book is).
I sincerely doubt that this warmth actually contributes to eyestrain, although I can imagine people making the association.
I often spend all day (and sometimes all evening as well) looking at an LCD, and it doesn’t bother me at all. They’re much better than CRTs.
I do use them at their native resolution, but with large fonts. I wonder if some of the people who are bothered by them are using them at a non-native resolution, and are affected by the resulting fuzziness even if they are not consciously aware of it.
I don’t experience any eye-strain with LCD’s. At least, not anymore than staring at any other object for long periods of time. CRT’s gave me problems, but I’ve sometimes spent 16+ hours in front my my monitor without issue.
Studies have yet to show any link between VDU usage and eye problems. U.K. government details here.
Last I checked (years ago), “eye strain” wasn’t a degenerative condition but simply a general term for the eye muscles getting tired as they do more work. No different than skeletal muscle fatigue you might suffer from after ditch digging or whatever. You go to bed and rest, and the “strain” is gone when you wake up.
Is this still accurate or is eye strain now meant to indicate some damaging effect on the eye caused by looking at something for an extended length of time, or in sub-optimal lighting conditions?
If you reach up and turn your LCD off right now, you’ll see exactly how much light ambient light gets reflected from it. As you can see, it’s “not much”; the screen is a rather dark shade of gray when unpowered, even in a brightly lit office environment.
Re: flickering, my LCD’s are currently set to 60 Hz. I used to have a CRT that was set to 60 Hz, and I could perceive the flickering in my peripheral vision when I looked away from the monitor. I can’t perceive any flickering from the LCD’s, which I guess means that each individual frame persists on the LCD longer/better than it did on the CRT. Possible others are more sensitive, and are still able to detect flicker on LCD’s.
Semi-Hijack (and let me know if I need to put a Poll up in IMHO):
Do you use Cleartype font smoothing, and does it make a difference in whether you get eyestrain? I just turned it on, and my eyes started straining right away. It’s relevant because LCDs allow sub-pixel rendering, and it’s on by default in Vista and Windows 7.
Wow, you don’t like Cleartype? I much prefer it to unsmoothed fonts.
For me, LCD screens per se aren’t the problem.
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The major problem is reading in an upright position. I just am not that comfortable sitting in a chair as compared to reclining on a couch or in my bed, and this is reflected in my reading experience. Same thing with watching video - I’d much rather watch tv on a tv than on my computer because I can be more comfortable. I’d even prefer watching a video on my tiny ipod screen, simply because my body is more comfortable.
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A minor secondary issue is that LCD screens are really wiiiiide. Studies have shown that thinner columns are easier to read. Granted, you can resize a window, but the sluff on the side is still a bit distracting…
I’ve gotten eyestrain using LCD monitors at work, but not with my own LCD monitor. The monitors at work are 400:1 and 5ms and mine is 8000:1 and 2ms so there’s a difference.
I spend pretty much every waking moment on the computer and have never, not now and not back when I used CRTs, gotten any sort of eye discomfort from it.
Your eyes dart about much more when Web surfing than when reading a novel. I can spend many hours reading Web pages on an LCD but eInk is much more comfortable for reading a novel.