Posted by
timothy
on from the mmmm-lcds-are-great dept.
SunPin writes "Slashdotters are doomed. An article from Reuters describes serious health problems from using CRTs (they call them "VDT") for too long. Studies show that we need more studies." So go ahead and expense a three-head LCD setup for your desk.
There are ways to avoid that
by
Nicolas42
·
· Score: 3, Informative
First of all, if the problem stem from radiations coming from the screen, the farther you are from it, the less radiation you take. Since they must follow an inverse square law, even a few centimeters can make quite a difference.
Next, and perhaps more important: do NOT strain when you are looking at the screen. I spend most of my time in front of a CRT, and don't have any troubles. Take some breaks, before you eyes hurt. Even closing your eyes and resting them for a few secoonds is often enough. You can also put your cupped palms on your eyes, not touching them, elbows resting on the desk, and imagine pleasant things. Also, look out of the window from time to time.
Apart from these obvious things, there is a right way to look, and many wrong ones. Most people who have vision problems, headaches, eyestrain or pain are in this situation only because they use their eyes in a wrong way. If you want to know more about this, take a look at this site.
Unbelievable as it seems, I've cured myself of myopia, astigmatism and amblyopia in two years by using the method described in there (it's the Bates method). Besides, it's totally free, and this is a non profit site with no advertissement or such. Everything you need to know is in there
Don't take my word for it, give it a fair try, and see for yourself.
-- "Of course I'm french, why d'you think I got this outttrrrageous accent?"
Re:Better than flat screen: get one of these
by
Hadlock
·
· Score: 3, Informative
yeah, in theroy, the bulb is about $400, and lasts somewhere on the order of 1000-5000 hours. if you can limit your computer time to 5 hours a day, the life of the bulb is somthing like 4 years.
until the price of the bulb comes down signifigantly, these will generally be restricted to low use applications, primarily, the media room, and the office meeting room.
Nothing in the article or journal they reference talks about the health effects of CRT monitors, the use of the term Visual Display Terminal (VDT) throughout the article seems to be a generic term for any type of monitor used with a PC, be they CRT or LCD.
To quote from the article
"While the type of computer work the study participants performed varied considerably, as did the size of the computer used and the work environment, "it should be emphasized that even under such working conditions, our results were extremely consistent over a 3-year period," Nakazawa and colleagues note."
In a three year study with this number of participants, you sould expect a range of monitors to be used, but they show no exception for LCD users. You can see an abstract of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine study this was based on here or sign up for a trial subscription which will allow you to download the whole study in pdf format.
Re:Better than flat screen: get one of these
by
Rolo+Tomasi
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Great idea. The bulbs last how long? 500 hours? And they cost how much? $400 a piece?
-- Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
Data base is 1995-97
by
nniillss
·
· Score: 3, Informative
This is not about LCDs and not about top-notch CRTs we have today. We are talking 15" or 17" and 60Hz refresh rate.
Personally, however, I am very sensitive to flicker and lack of sharpness so that I really enjoy my (great) Dell 20" TFT.
Some tips
by
tanveer1979
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Well, monitors cant be avoided nor can sitting in front of computer. just take some precautions.
Do situps(abdominal) after 3 hours of sitting.
Sit straight, dont crouch
Keep monitor at eye height
Add more calcium to your diet
If you develop back pain, dont IGNORE, go to the doc now!
remind yourself to blink regularly, not blinking is dangerous
Try using a screen(3M makes AFAIK)
Every morning excerise wrists by using the grip builder or clenching unclenching
Last but not the least, remember, health is wealth
-- My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
I have two tips myself to solve the problem: 1) get an adjustable dest that you can stand or sit at and 2) make sit-ups each morning and evening to avoid back pains. These two points helped me!
The first tip is a great one, which will save you fro a lot of pain, if you have back problems. The second tip is a disaster, as any chiropractor will tell you. Don't do situps if you have a back condition.
But you wouldn't take medical advice from/. anyhow, would you ?
-- Oh, I can't help quoting you because everything that you said rings true
Re:Study this!
by
leshert
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Nothing in the article (as opposed to the Slashdot summary) attributed the damage to the CRT itself. In fact, they never mention the word CRT!
A video display terminal (VDT) refers to the whole workstation, not just the monitor.
The typical office environment with modular office cube is just about the worst ergonomic environment there is. The cube itself has several problems:
Placing the monitor in the corner means the desk wings are constantly in the way of elbows.
Desk height is non-adjustable, so it's either too high or too low for the majority of people.
Keyboard trays (mounted under the desk) take up enough space that anyone over 5' 10" is going to get whacked in the knees if they try to use it.
These units were designed before mice were common, and have no support for them on the keyboard trays.
The overhead shelves/bins prevent raising the monitor to an ergonomic height.
Add to that issues of non-adjustable chairs, cheap flat keyboards (vs. ergonomic designs), poor mouse designs, and you've got a guarantee of neck, shoulder, and back problems before you even turn on the monitor.
Turning to the monitors, it's usually not a simple issue of LCD vs. CRT, but of monitor quality. Most cube-lands are full of poor quality monitors that came with pre-negotiated system bundles, often meaning they were outdated before the supply contract was first signed.
As a consultant, I have spent at least half my career stuck in front of blurry, non-adjustable, cheap monitors that I wouldn't even consider for a kids computer, much less someone who has to spend hours a day on it. While far from the worst I've dealt with, my current client environment consists of 5+ year old 17" monitors with poor color, poor contrast, glare problems, low refresh rates, and focus problems (the monitor I'm saddled with can't handle more than 1280x1024 at 60Hz NI. While the resolution is theoretically good enough, refresh rates under 75Hz cause serious eye strain.)
TFT LCD displays would help the eye strain, but so would high quality CRT monitors (e.g. Sony G420 19", Hitachi CM715 19", et. al.) The problem is that companies are not going to pay for replacement monitors because they can get entire system bundles with cheap monitors for very little more.
-- I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
the importance of regular breaks
by
bbqBrain
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I've found that when I forget to take breaks from the coding, I'm a lot worse off in general: eye strain, neck stiffness, back discomfort, arthritic wrists, etc. The best tool I've found so far is quite simple but very effective: xwrits. It's been mentioned here on slashdot several times before, but I think it's worth repeating for those who haven't seen it before.
xwrits allows you to specify the interval between breaks, duration of breaks, and many other useful things like whether you should get the finger when you ignore the warning.:-) (BTW, has anyone tested it on OSX?)
--
One of the reasons that I became a lawyer was to avoid ever having to hire one. -SPYvSPY
I've been using computers since the Apple//. I'm a programmer but rarely work more than 40 hours a week.
I used to have strong headaches (unusual for me) an ever increasing eye strain (I've always been sensitive to light but this was much more intense than I usually experience) and lack of sleep (I'm a night owl, but only when I use the computer too much)... and all kinds of other problems. Usually irritated and sore, strained eyes.
I got a glare filter at first and the headaches went away but the straining didn't.
Years go by. 3 months ago I get a Sony 17.1 LCD TFT. No more headaches. Instantly no more strainging. Good sleep patterns (probly an effect of me getting married in the same time frame as when I got the LCD)... my eyes are better, no more sore or irritated (unless I deprive myself of sleep)...
Don't know exactly if it makes a different scientifically, but I do know that when I start to use my server for more than 30 mintues (CRT) I start to get "light-headed" and my eyes again strain and irritate until I turn away and it's all better again.
I have experienced, I think there is a relation (with me) in this. Others I know that have programmed for 30 years or more have no eye problems. So it must be in the person or the monitor or other factors considered. Nonetheless, I think CRT/LCD differences are significant and make a diifference on the eye.
Slashdot Mirror
First of all, if the problem stem from radiations coming from the screen, the farther you are from it, the less radiation you take. Since they must follow an inverse square law, even a few centimeters can make quite a difference.
Next, and perhaps more important: do NOT strain when you are looking at the screen. I spend most of my time in front of a CRT, and don't have any troubles. Take some breaks, before you eyes hurt. Even closing your eyes and resting them for a few secoonds is often enough. You can also put your cupped palms on your eyes, not touching them, elbows resting on the desk, and imagine pleasant things. Also, look out of the window from time to time.
Apart from these obvious things, there is a right way to look, and many wrong ones. Most people who have vision problems, headaches, eyestrain or pain are in this situation only because they use their eyes in a wrong way. If you want to know more about this, take a look at this site.
Unbelievable as it seems, I've cured myself of myopia, astigmatism and amblyopia in two years by using the method described in there (it's the Bates method). Besides, it's totally free, and this is a non profit site with no advertissement or such. Everything you need to know is in there
Don't take my word for it, give it a fair try, and see for yourself.
"Of course I'm french, why d'you think I got this outttrrrageous accent?"
yeah, in theroy, the bulb is about $400, and lasts somewhere on the order of 1000-5000 hours. if you can limit your computer time to 5 hours a day, the life of the bulb is somthing like 4 years.
until the price of the bulb comes down signifigantly, these will generally be restricted to low use applications, primarily, the media room, and the office meeting room.
moox. for a new generation.
To quote from the article
In a three year study with this number of participants, you sould expect a range of monitors to be used, but they show no exception for LCD users. You can see an abstract of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine study this was based on here or sign up for a trial subscription which will allow you to download the whole study in pdf format.
Great idea. The bulbs last how long? 500 hours? And they cost how much? $400 a piece?
Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
Personally, however, I am very sensitive to flicker and lack of sharpness so that I really enjoy my (great) Dell 20" TFT.
Do situps(abdominal) after 3 hours of sitting.
Sit straight, dont crouch
Keep monitor at eye height
Add more calcium to your diet
If you develop back pain, dont IGNORE, go to the doc now!
remind yourself to blink regularly, not blinking is dangerous
Try using a screen(3M makes AFAIK)
Every morning excerise wrists by using the grip builder or clenching unclenching
Last but not the least, remember, health is wealth
My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
I have two tips myself to solve the problem: 1) get an adjustable dest that you can stand or sit at and 2) make sit-ups each morning and evening to avoid back pains. These two points helped me!
/. anyhow, would you ?
The first tip is a great one, which will save you fro a lot of pain, if you have back problems. The second tip is a disaster, as any chiropractor will tell you. Don't do situps if you have a back condition.
But you wouldn't take medical advice from
Oh, I can't help quoting you because everything that you said rings true
Nothing in the article (as opposed to the Slashdot summary) attributed the damage to the CRT itself. In fact, they never mention the word CRT!
A video display terminal (VDT) refers to the whole workstation, not just the monitor.
The typical office environment with modular office cube is just about the worst ergonomic environment there is. The cube itself has several problems:
Add to that issues of non-adjustable chairs, cheap flat keyboards (vs. ergonomic designs), poor mouse designs, and you've got a guarantee of neck, shoulder, and back problems before you even turn on the monitor.
Turning to the monitors, it's usually not a simple issue of LCD vs. CRT, but of monitor quality. Most cube-lands are full of poor quality monitors that came with pre-negotiated system bundles, often meaning they were outdated before the supply contract was first signed.
As a consultant, I have spent at least half my career stuck in front of blurry, non-adjustable, cheap monitors that I wouldn't even consider for a kids computer, much less someone who has to spend hours a day on it. While far from the worst I've dealt with, my current client environment consists of 5+ year old 17" monitors with poor color, poor contrast, glare problems, low refresh rates, and focus problems (the monitor I'm saddled with can't handle more than 1280x1024 at 60Hz NI. While the resolution is theoretically good enough, refresh rates under 75Hz cause serious eye strain.)
TFT LCD displays would help the eye strain, but so would high quality CRT monitors (e.g. Sony G420 19", Hitachi CM715 19", et. al.) The problem is that companies are not going to pay for replacement monitors because they can get entire system bundles with cheap monitors for very little more.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
I've found that when I forget to take breaks from the coding, I'm a lot worse off in general: eye strain, neck stiffness, back discomfort, arthritic wrists, etc. The best tool I've found so far is quite simple but very effective: xwrits. It's been mentioned here on slashdot several times before, but I think it's worth repeating for those who haven't seen it before.
:-) (BTW, has anyone tested it on OSX?)
xwrits allows you to specify the interval between breaks, duration of breaks, and many other useful things like whether you should get the finger when you ignore the warning.
One of the reasons that I became a lawyer was to avoid ever having to hire one. -SPYvSPY
I've been using computers since the Apple //. I'm a programmer but rarely work more than 40 hours a week.
I used to have strong headaches (unusual for me) an ever increasing eye strain (I've always been sensitive to light but this was much more intense than I usually experience) and lack of sleep (I'm a night owl, but only when I use the computer too much)... and all kinds of other problems. Usually irritated and sore, strained eyes.
I got a glare filter at first and the headaches went away but the straining didn't.
Years go by. 3 months ago I get a Sony 17.1 LCD TFT. No more headaches. Instantly no more strainging. Good sleep patterns (probly an effect of me getting married in the same time frame as when I got the LCD)... my eyes are better, no more sore or irritated (unless I deprive myself of sleep)...
Don't know exactly if it makes a different scientifically, but I do know that when I start to use my server for more than 30 mintues (CRT) I start to get "light-headed" and my eyes again strain and irritate until I turn away and it's all better again.
I have experienced, I think there is a relation (with me) in this. Others I know that have programmed for 30 years or more have no eye problems. So it must be in the person or the monitor or other factors considered. Nonetheless, I think CRT/LCD differences are significant and make a diifference on the eye.
Thanks,
Me