Hacker News Reader

Comment by Funes- | Hacker News Reader

I have a 13.3-inch Dasung e-ink monitor, and use it daily for three to six hours (basically, whenever I use my PC). Some days ago the HDMI cable it came with broke, so before I had the opportunity to replace it, I had to switch back to an LED monitor for the time being. Well, surely anyone can already guess what happened... After just a couple of days, I came upon a long forgotten enemy: eye fatigue. Blurry vision, trouble focusing it, and a light headache.

Like many others here, I wish the technology could have advanced faster and been made more accessible for everyone. Without the obstacles it still faces, I'm sure we would already have color screens with a good refresh rate. C'est la vie.

View on HN

> Well, surely anyone can already guess what happened... After just a couple of days, I came upon a long forgotten enemy: eye fatigue. Blurry vision, trouble focusing it, and a light headache.

Is this actually a common problem? I've never had this with even 12 hours a day in front of a screen, or is this just luck?

Some people are more sensitive to this issue than others. Age is a big factor, weight is another (because of faster dehydration), and of course monitor calibration, environmental light, etc. But yes, monitors eventually kill eyes and brains, even flatscreens.

> But yes, monitors eventually kill eyes

Are you sure?

https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/safeguarding-your-...

"Myth: Reading in dim light will worsen your vision.

Fact: Although dim lighting will not adversely affect your eyesight, it will tire your eyes out more quickly."

"Myth: Staring at a computer screen all day is bad for the eyes.

Fact: Although using a computer will not harm your eyes, staring at a computer screen all day will contribute to eyestrain or tired eyes. Adjust lighting so that it does not create a glare or harsh reflection on the screen."

I'm going to repeat my comment from 11 days ago where you posted the same thing:

> So the myth is true, unless for some reason you don't consider eyestrain and tired eyes "bad for the eyes".

I think you're confusing me with someone else as I don't believe I've ever posted that link before.

> So the myth is true, unless for some reason you don't consider eyestrain and tired eyes "bad for the eyes".

I was replying to "monitors eventually kill eyes and brains". I would equate "kill" to "permanently damage" and not "temporarily tired" so maybe we're just disagreeing on definitions?

And how bad is it really? Do you have anything to back what you mean and its severity? Most activities cause temporary fatigue after several hours so what makes this special?

> I think you're confusing me with someone else

You're right, but the similarity between your comment and the one from 11 days ago is uncanny: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25417481

Looks like the poster there was refuting that screens cause permanent eye damage, and similar to here your reply is about temporary eye damage instead.

If I cannot use my eyes because they are too tired, they are “killed” for the day, in my book. As the other comment says, your own source makes the opposite point that the one you were probably trying to make.

> If I cannot use my eyes because they are too tired, they are “killed” for the day, in my book. As the other comment says, your own source makes the opposite point that the one you were probably trying to make.

We're clearly using different interpretations of the word "killed".

I have no memory of my eyes being "killed for the day" so I was asking for evidence that maybe I am accumulating eye damage that will eventually catch up on me.

Everyone might perceive Tired Eyes or "Killed Eyes" differently. For some it might be a little scratching/dry eyes for others it might make them headaches und blurred vision up to not be able to use screens anymore for the day.

No matter what it is, in COVID times when everyone uses the screen 8h+ / day we should have some better screen tech, which is at least as good as a book. It can't be that this occupational hazard should be accpeted like it is right now.

Other professions like medical radiology imaging are more forward thinking in this: http://europepmc.org/article/PMC/5449879

Have you tried using OLEDs? I can't imagine how eInk would be different from an OLED on grayscale and low brightness settings... other than the fact that OLED will be better in terms of availability, refresh rates, response times, resolution and price.

Anyone here understand why LCD would cause eye strain and EInk wouldn't? Is it emissive vs reflective? Why would this make a difference? The only source of strain I can imagine for a monitor is if 1) it's too bright, 2) it's at bad distance so your eyes have to accommodate or verge uncomfortably. Does it have something with the spectrum of the reflected light?

There are many reasons. Accomodation, Nerves, Bad Sight, Weak Muscles, Heterophoria, etc.

There is a whole community dedicated to LED Strain: https://ledstrain.org/

You can also read more here: https://pcmonitors.info/articles/factors-influencing-pc-moni...

I hope color eink monitors become a reality soon. For those who suffer from eye strain through conventional LED this would be a game changer.

Can I ask you how is the feedback when you write on your keyboard? Isn't there a delay?

The refresh rate is really good for an e-ink screen. There's no significant delay when typing. It's not blazing fast, but it never gets noticeable enough to be annoying. I even watch videos on this thing, although I account for the lag by adding a 200 ms A-V delay on mpv (Ctrl++).

To be completely clear, do you mean that there's a median of ~200ms of latency?

That's kind of my "oww, server is too far away" point with SSH...

It's closer to 150 ms. mpv only lets you increase or decrease delay in intervals of a hundred milliseconds, as far as I know.

Thanks.

FWIW, that's what the default keybindings configure.

You can create your own input.conf to override this - ^F for `audio-delay`: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mpv-player/mpv/master/etc/...

You can also specify --audio-delay (^F in https://mpv.io/manual/master/) which accepts fractions of seconds, but that makes for much slower iteration.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com