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Comment by unsupp0rted | Hacker News Reader

Dark mode is good in the sense that I love it.

Using light mode apps, especially in the evening, is like a laser into my eyes, subjectively.

The point though is that while one might "love it" and dark mode might feel like "laser into the eyes" to them, it can also mean reduced eyesight and increased vision problems mid/long term - not "subjectively", but objectively.

To make an analogy, excercize also feels like an exhausting experience for many people, and they "love" and prefer lounging on a couch, but long term they'd live more and be healthier if they did it more of the former and less of the latter.

> it can also mean reduced eyesight and increased vision problems mid/long term

[Citation needed]

The article mentions several studies, including short-term discomfort from digital eye strain associated with excessive screen use (regardless of color theme) and improved reading accuracy with light themes, but I don't see anything associating dark themes with long-term vision issues.

> Dark mode is good in the sense that I love it.

I love it so much that I've been using it since my Atari 600 XL and Commodore 64 days.

At times it's been complicated: I remember the early IntelliJ IDEs had no dark-mode but you could configure one yourself (and it was lots of work). Or Windows: the rare time when I worked on Windows I couldn't get a dark mode to work but I remember I could "dim" the laser white background into a light grey and Word would show a slightly grey background.

Linux / Emacs: zero issue configuring these with dark modes of course.

As an anecdote at 51 y/o I need, at long last, to go see an ophthalmologist to measure my now failing eyes.

But spending most of my life from 11 y/o to 51 y/o in front of computer screen, I'd say all these decades without glasses was a good run.

Turn the monitor brightness down.

I have it set to 5/100 and there's no problem using light mode all day and night.

I've found contrast suffers when using that approach. That's why dark mode seems to work best for some of us.

You don't need eye-blazing contrast in low light. If you try it your eyes will adjust.

Is there anything visible at that point. There always seems to be someone advocating impractical solutions simply because they believe these solutions work for them personally.

My monitor's absolute lowest brightness is ideal for me in diffuse daylight (normal working conditions) and tolerable (still not too bright) in the evening. It is annoying that they don't go even lower, but it works for me. My phone's brightness slider goes all the way down to a comfortable level for night, at the very lowest setting.

Depends on your specific display. Mine is at brightness 16 at home, and 0 or 2 at work.

Of course, everything is visible. Perfectly visible, not as some sort of compromise.

I do design work, in addition to building stuff. I need to see colors "as-is" (to the degree that's ever a thing) fairly often. 5/100 brightness wouldn't be great, and even syntax-highlighting gets murky at low brightness, I'm guessing?

Yeah I'm not using dark mode for any "health" reasons in the first place. It's to avoid pain.

Then switch on the lights in your room? Why doing complex retheming and suffering pain if you don't when you can just flip the switch?

Ah yes, let me turn on the lights when my roommate is already sleeping just to be able to use light mode.

Or you could just use a table lamp, or any other background lighting. Instead of that you will be complaining about pain in your eyes, band aiding it with dark mode and go blind before 40 years old.

Using dark mode makes you blind? That’s a new one.

No, looking into only source of light during night makes your eye to strain which can make you blind.

The point is you want your screen to annoy you so you don’t use it in that time.

The point is I'm gonna use my devices at night so I'd like them not to attack me when I do so.

We have invented light bulb at the beginning of 20th century. You will definitely find its descendant in your room. Try to use it.

I don't want my room to be bright, I want my devices to be at a comfortable brightness level for my dimly lit room! :)

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