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I have 2 issues with flux, one personal one science related. personal) I'm colorblind and it really messed with my ability to guess at the appropriate colors,

I have 2 issues with flux, one personal one science related. personal) I'm colorblind and it really messed with my ability to guess at the appropriate colors, and sometimes made it impossible to read text on the screen. (Red on black is hard for me) science) One of their more prominent articles showcases a study of how reading on a stock iPad can mess up your sleep a lot, but reading a book with standard bulb (much warmer than the iPad backlight) has a much smaller effect. I remember studying the effect of light in neuroscience classes in college, and blue light is potent, but so is total light received. Indirect light from bulb, or having a device blast light directly into your retina. Never stood a chance. Just shifting the colors can only reduce so much light. For example, max out the brightness on any non oled based screen with a completely black image. You still see light even though those gates have done the best they can. My general impression of the reporting is "lets throw a bunch of science at you, which doesn't quite say what we do, and hope you jump to our conclusions."

tacos 11y ago
That reporting starts from the research links on the F.lux site which 1) don't really say what they they seem to think they say and 2) often conveniently hide behind paywalls. The F.lux team genuinely seems to care about human health yet they haven't bothered to write the equivalent of a three page term paper about what they're basing their work on the past 8 years. It's odd. Even in this thread (as in the other six or seven F.lux threads that have popped up on HN lately) smart people are saying things that simply don't make sense. We're basically dealing with the equivalent of blue-blocker sunglasses from the 80s and it's odd seeing HN commenters spout the same informercial-grade rhetoric I laugh at on late night television.
- dota_fanatic 11y ago
  Some people, perhaps against their better judgement, like to use screens even as they're getting closer and closer to sleep. Some even use screens in bed. The difference in harshness of a 5800K screen and a 2700K screen is quite easy to feel in an otherwise dark room, late in ones "day", and once you're used to the latter, it is very uncomfortable to look directly at the former. One of them feels better on your eyes than the other. It's that simple! How exactly does this not make sense? Enjoy your eye strain...? :-/ I find your laughing at our mutual experience and desire to share it with others, so that they may too use screens with less discomfort, odd. And unlike an infomercial, we're not trying to sell anything.
  - tacos 11y ago
    To clarify, I was speaking to broader claims of people saying f.lux puts them to sleep like a baby and the f.lux authors themselves claiming it as a tool in the fight against cancer and acne. Note that f.lux does not even claim to prevent eyestrain. The closest they come is this: "Our users say that f.lux prevents eyestrain." That's hardly science; in fact it's exactly how shady companies market vitamins. Also, I don't know what "feels better on your eyes" means but I will point out that if 2700K screens felt better "in an otherwise dark room" then movie theaters would use them. You say "It's that simple!" but like most things, it's a little more complicated than that.
    - kungtotte 11y ago
      You see no difference between sitting 0.5 meters away from a screen that's projecting its own light or sitting 15 meters away from a screen that has light projected onto it?
      - simoncion 11y ago
        A photon is a photon, regardless of whether it's emitted directly or reflected. All that matters is vibration frequency and intensity of the stream of photons. Do you disagree?
        samizdatum 11y ago
        Maybe kungtotte is talking about accommodation or vergence, though I don't see how these are relevant to f.lux or colour temperature.
Laaw 11y ago
Exactly! Furthermore, I wonder if the backlight leakage from an LCD ruins the effect (the reason why a black screen isn't actually dark). None of the studies they cite actually use LCD monitors.
- adrianN 11y ago
  I have a pair of sunglasses that blocks light below 490nm. Even with flux in the "Candle" setting I notice a small difference, so there is definitely some blue leaking.

tacos 11y ago

That reporting starts from the research links on the F.lux site which 1) don't really say what they they seem to think they say and 2) often conveniently hide behind paywalls. The F.lux team genuinely seems to care about human health yet they haven't bothered to write the equivalent of a three page term paper about what they're basing their work on the past 8 years. It's odd. Even in this thread (as in the other six or seven F.lux threads that have popped up on HN lately) smart people are saying things that simply don't make sense. We're basically dealing with the equivalent of blue-blocker sunglasses from the 80s and it's odd seeing HN commenters spout the same informercial-grade rhetoric I laugh at on late night television.

dota_fanatic 11y ago
Some people, perhaps against their better judgement, like to use screens even as they're getting closer and closer to sleep. Some even use screens in bed. The difference in harshness of a 5800K screen and a 2700K screen is quite easy to feel in an otherwise dark room, late in ones "day", and once you're used to the latter, it is very uncomfortable to look directly at the former. One of them feels better on your eyes than the other. It's that simple! How exactly does this not make sense? Enjoy your eye strain...? :-/ I find your laughing at our mutual experience and desire to share it with others, so that they may too use screens with less discomfort, odd. And unlike an infomercial, we're not trying to sell anything.
- tacos 11y ago
  To clarify, I was speaking to broader claims of people saying f.lux puts them to sleep like a baby and the f.lux authors themselves claiming it as a tool in the fight against cancer and acne. Note that f.lux does not even claim to prevent eyestrain. The closest they come is this: "Our users say that f.lux prevents eyestrain." That's hardly science; in fact it's exactly how shady companies market vitamins. Also, I don't know what "feels better on your eyes" means but I will point out that if 2700K screens felt better "in an otherwise dark room" then movie theaters would use them. You say "It's that simple!" but like most things, it's a little more complicated than that.
  - kungtotte 11y ago
    You see no difference between sitting 0.5 meters away from a screen that's projecting its own light or sitting 15 meters away from a screen that has light projected onto it?
    - simoncion 11y ago
      A photon is a photon, regardless of whether it's emitted directly or reflected. All that matters is vibration frequency and intensity of the stream of photons. Do you disagree?
      - samizdatum 11y ago
        Maybe kungtotte is talking about accommodation or vergence, though I don't see how these are relevant to f.lux or colour temperature.

Laaw 11y ago

Exactly! Furthermore, I wonder if the backlight leakage from an LCD ruins the effect (the reason why a black screen isn't actually dark). None of the studies they cite actually use LCD monitors.

adrianN 11y ago
I have a pair of sunglasses that blocks light below 490nm. Even with flux in the "Candle" setting I notice a small difference, so there is definitely some blue leaking.