Healthy alternative for screens?

[SuperKuddlor† 0]

Is there a way to make screens not hurt my eyes?

My mum says that screens are bad for eyes because of the strain they cause to them. She says it's because of the many pixels. To me, that doesn't make any sense. I see much more "pixels" in real life than on the screen so why don't I feel pain then?

 

So if the screens are bad and they're only thing that can make me create visual effects from my imagination and furries and etc. and have what this stupid physical-law world doesn't have like undo button, passing through walls, not stumbling on things, what can be an alternative to them to give me the same things?

[Joshua Reynard† 0]

There are computer glasses out there that supposedly reduce eye strain, but they aren't cheap. There are also programs like f.lux that adjust your computer display's brightness and color according to the time of day. I think that similar apps exist for smartphones and tablets. I know there is aalso a program out there that gives your screen an amber tint, which supposedly reduces eye strain by filtering out blue light. Not sure if it's f.lux or another program, though.

As for alternatives to screens, I'm partial to good old-fashioned pencil and paper. It doesn't have an undo button, but erasers are usually close enough. :-P

[SuperKuddlor† 0]

Hmm, would monochrome LCDs with a little backlight be good? I can buy a ton of those on DIY component sites and make a device.

[Joshua Reynard† 0]

That depends on what kind of device you want to build. You might be able to build an IRC client with one of those and an Arduino. But you're probably not going to get too far in terms of graphics. Pixel art (like the original Game Boy) would be doable, but that's probably the upper limit of what you can get. I don't know if there are any monochrome LCDs that come close to the resolution of your typical LCD monitor.

I would also recommend looking into e-paper. It was popular with e-readers before they became indistinguishable from regular tablets. I found an old e-reader at a tag sale once for $1 - its battery was busted, but I can still use it if it's plugged into a USB charger. It has an e-paper display and a smaller LCD for touch-screen controls. You might be able to find something similar because the technology is several years old at this point. E-paper is easy on the eyes because it looks like regular paper. Another advantage of e-paper is that the display can hold an image for days or even weeks without even being powered at all. The main disadvantage is that it's currently monochromatic and not capable of good framerates (so no gaming on it).

Edited October 3, 2015 by Joshua Reynard

[SuperKuddlor† 0]

Wow, thanks! That sounds nice. It might be good for some little games like the ones for Gamebuino.

Anyways, seeing an e-paper display with touch control would be awesome! I could use it for a little animation device project like Flipnote Studio

[Joshua Reynard† 0]

I would LOVE to have a touchscreen e-paper display for drawing. I think there's an older (pre-Fire) version of the Kindle that has an e-paper touchscreen. I wonder if it would be possible to somehow convert that for use that as a drawing tablet?

[SuperKuddlor† 0]

Unfortunately, I think there's a problem. The screen needs a lot of memory, refresh rate, etc. because it doesn't have its own chip enough powerful for that stuff like those TFT LCD screens do. Hopefully an 8-bit AVR XMEGA microcontroller might handle it because of how many pins it has.

 

Making that a little MP3 player, text viewer, music composer (using the VLSI chip for MIDI playing IN REAL TIME, YEAH MAN  ), animation maker, maybe a little code interpretter for game development or to use as a little PLC, and that will be so awesome! Just need to find a good screen module for that.

 

Also, does the screen always need to refresh itself by constantly inverting the color like in the Arduino demo? That really sucks.

 

I was just now thinking about making a server hosted on a PC and a specific port so that everyone that has these little devices can meet together, make animations, chat, share music, etc.. So much fun ^~^ But that will be just yet another idea to be thrown into the trash can if I don't have a buddy to work with.

[Flechmen 0]

Honestly dude, your best bet might be looking into those special glasses. By "expensive" we mean like $50 for a pair of basically sunglasses that specifically block blue.

Option 1 (an off brand maybe?)

Option 2 (the name brand)

 

Or I wonder if an OLED screen would be a better option, but those are going to be extremely expensive for a few years yet. 

 

What you're saying there is a lot to ask of a little Arduino (AVR), even a Mega. The screen modules for them are generally monochrome character-only displays. You can get graphical displays, but the way they're made, the Arduino just sends commands to it, I don't think you can drive them directly.

 

The Kindle Paperwhite uses an E-paper touchscreen

[Rick† 0]

Hey, sorry for posting on an old thread. But I'm just concerned, maybe you should try seen an eye doctor if you feel pain, which to me is not the same as strain.

 

I have been reading that you are into programming, perhaps you don't blink enough for paying too much attention to the screen, maybe you should take 15 minute brakes every hour or so.

 

I'd also keep a reasonable distance from the screen.

[foxbunny† 1]

You can use something like F.lux to change the color temperature on phones, tablets, and computers. The downside is that it changes the color on your screen (bad for doing color artwork). However, there are easy ways to avoid eyestrain.

 

Try something real quick: stand so that you can touch the wall. Put your finger on one point and leave it there. Do that for the next few hours. Just kidding. You already know what will happen--your shoulder will get sore, your arm will get tired. That's the same thing happening with your eyes.

 

Note that eyestrain isn't dangerous, just painful. It's like a cramp from sitting in one position for too long... or standing for too long... or running for too long.  Essentially, the muscles need a break from the close focus. Working near a window is a good option as you can easily take breaks and look outside (if you can't go outside) and change your focus. The conditions that cause eyestrain can eventually cause problems with focus, just as sitting around all the time will eventually cause problems. So, exercise your eyes by giving them more things to focus one and limiting how much time you spend staring at a close point.

 

You can get eyestrain from reading plain old paper books too much (consider: avid readers often end up in glasses). The light quality and pixilation are factors, but the biggest issue is the fact that you are staring at something less than a meter from your face for hours at a time.

[Neptas† 0]

Try something real quick: stand so that you can touch the wall. Put your finger on one point and leave it there. Do that for the next few hours. Just kidding. You already know what will happen--your shoulder will get sore, your arm will get tired. That's the same thing happening with your eyes.

 

I'm not sure I really agree with that comparison . Everyone would got tired after lifting their arms for hours, but not everyone has eyestrains problems. I personaly can stay a dozen of hours every day behind a screen and will never get any issue.

 

My 2 cents though:

- Always have a light behind you, day-time and night-time.

- Lowering luminosity and color contrast (a bit) is generally always a plus, but don't get on the other side effect that is "My eyes are okay now, but I can't see anything anymore" .

- Your eyes should look down on the screen a bit, not at the same height, not looking up.

- I generally keep a distance equal to the size of my screen.

- If you change the color of your screen, remember red/yellow are more energic for the brain (good for day-time), while blue slows down the brain (good for night-time a couple of hours before you sleep). 

Edited July 28, 2016 by Neptas

[foxbunny† 1]

Yes, the arm out is an exaggeration, but it wouldn't actually affect everyone.

 

Some of suggestions have issues (the confusion of color and pigment, for example--you want to do exactly the opposite of what you suggest). But you are right on about others (top of monitor at eye level or below).

 

Here's some useful information.

http://lookafteryoureyes.org/eye-care/computers-and-other-screens/