Computers, Long Hours and Vision Problems?

msid asks: "I have been computing for almost 10 years, starting back in 1996 when my father bought me my first computer. In the process, I fell in love with computers and got stuck with them. The last year though has been a real challenge for me. I sleep 5 hours, in average, per day and I spend more that 15 hours in front of my laptop's monitor (a 17" TFT Widescreen), either programming or reading. I have never had 'problems' with my vision up until now. Do you have a specific way of using light sources in your workspace? I have heard of special glasses for computer users. Should I use them or not?" "A week ago, I checked my eyes and I found 0.25 astigmatism in both of them. They told me that this is not necessarily a problem, and it is mainly due to the intensive computer work. The actual symptom is that I lose my concentration more easily now. Also, the lighting of the monitor is killing me, especially when combined with a white background. Since I am willing to continue working in the same pace that I do now, what do you propose? Is there a habit that you follow to relax your eyes? Is there a way of preventing vision problems?"

Comments

Don't read on the computer

[jgardn]

Get a good laser printer. (As far as I know laser is cheaper than inkjet per page, and you get a better resolution.) Print the pages you want to read. Read them with the monitor turned off.

When I spend a great deal of time looking at a monitor, I can't focus after a while. Either the font size goes up or I turn it off and get some sleep or read a book.

Your body is sending you a signal. Pay attention and heed its warnings or suffer the consequences later in life.

Re:Light source behind the display, glasses?

[dal20402]

A few years ago someone mentioned that they had a light source behind their TV -- just a soft white light. In total darkness, the white light reduced eye tension as it allowed the eye to go from the bright TV to a gradient light to the dark wall, and it also increased the visible contrast of the TV.

So very true. Try it - it's amazing. Assuming your monitor isn't shoved all the way against the wall, put some kind of incandescent light behind it that will reflect off the walls around it.

For me, that gives me several extra hours of computing joy before my eyes die.

The other thing is: since I expect you're coding and working with lots of text, ditch your CRTs, use LCDs, make sure they're adjusted properly (if you're using analog inputs), and turn off anti-aliasing for small fonts. The sharpness makes an enormous difference.

And for whoever's sake make sure to turn on the light when it gets dark. The worst headaches I get are when I forget to do that and I'm suddenly sitting in a darkened room staring at 2 big monitors at full brightness.

Re:Duals bad?

[magarity]

dual monitors with different sync rates give me headaches
 
I completely agree but dual monitors with the same sync at different distances from your face is great. It gets your eyes to focus back and forth. I put a monitor at normal distance and a second about twice that, at a lower resolution, and use it for things that don't need fine resolution like email. It pretty much stopped eye strain for me.

Re:It's not just an environment issue

[bbcisdabomb]

Do not go anywhere other than an actual optomotrist's office to get glasses. My experience with places like Costco and Shopko is that their optomotrists, while certified, are told to only find problems that they can fix, and if the patients don't have any problem, to give them a mild perscription so they can sell the glasses anyway. Your optomotrist will find EVERYTHING wrong with your eyes, and can usually fix them or refer you to someone who can. Just think, would Costco really send you to eye surgery? Your optomotrist would. Note: Forgive the spelling, I'm tired.