Watching screens in limited light...

qqg3

qqg3

qqg3

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My parents seem insistent that watching screens (TV, PC, laptop etc) in dimmed light / near darkness is bad for my eyes?

I don't buy it, is there science to this claim?

I always retort, why is there a lack of lighting in the cinema? to dull silence...
 
No it isn't. A television is a cathrode ray tube with is in effect shooting light onto pixels. Therefore when you watch tv in the dark you are basically watching a light. Having an alternate light source in the room will make no difference whatsoever to your eyes, except if that light source is reflecting off the glass TV screen which would cause a glare. If this happens then your eyes will really strain because they are trying to adjust to see the light from the CRT. So, having another light on when watching TV could actually hurt your eyes
 
My dad has a habit of watching screens in the dark, I don't think it's good. I certainly prefer having the light on at least half-lit if it's a dimmer or a table lamp etc.

Think it's something to do with your eyes having to constantly adjust should you look away from the screen or the picture changes brightness a lot. In a cinema I think you're prettymuch staring at the screen the whole way through, so it's not too much of an issue.
 
If you watch the screen in the dark, your irises will be open wide, which i think is the main problem, as the screen may be slightly too bright for your retinas. It's better to watch in a well lit room. To be honest i doubt it does any damage, but i find it a bit uncomfortable to use a pc monitor in a dark room.
 
Last edited:
yhack said:
It's a myth: http://www.medem.com/medlib/article/ZZZ8BUZTYIE
Click to expand...
Indeed, but that might also make you think there's nothing wrong with eyestrain, when in fact it's not that simple. It's also a generalisation, and like many other generalisations, exceptions can happen.

In short - it shouldn't cause any problems, but if you do experience anything out of the ordinary, go see someone about it.
 
qqg3 said:
My parents seem insistent that watching screens (TV, PC, laptop etc) in dimmed light / near darkness is bad for my eyes?

I don't buy it, is there science to this claim?

I always retort, why is there a lack of lighting in the cinema? to dull silence...
Click to expand...

We do it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, every week at work. The room is almost pitch black, that you need to turn on a light to read printed text.

Supposes to maximize the contrast differentiation. Many papers support this practice, and it is been done like this for decades since.
 
As long as your screen is at a comfortable brightness level then there should be little to no eyestrain in any ambient lighting condition.

The ideal brightness of a screen is usually around 120cd/m2 but the only way you can measure it is with a colorimeter (minimum £50 cost) but you can get good results by manually adjusting brightness, turning off any auto brightness modes on the TV/screen etc.
 
frosty03 said:
We do it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, every week at work. The room is almost pitch black, that you need to turn on a light to read printed text.

Supposes to maximize the contrast differentiation. Many papers support this practice, and it is been done like this for decades since.
Click to expand...

Crikey, what kind of workplace is that? Out of interest.
 
My LCD screen seems to look much better in the dim light just after dawn and just before dusk. I think it looks better in this dim light than in pitch darkness or full daylight. Probably something to do with lack of glare, contrast levels and my eye's accomodation to the ambient light (if you remember your school days and the biology lessons).

Back when I was a lad, those self appointed experts who love to try run our lives used to tell us that you had to sit a foot away from your TV screen for every inch of diagonal screen size. These days with 40" screens that would put you halfway down your garden :)

As in all things trust your body - if you get headaches or your eyes itch or hurt look for a problem, else ignore the issue completely.
 
Watching TV in the dark makes my eyes water and feel irritated, I always dim the lights when watching a movie, never off.
 
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