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Ok. Regardless of the intuition, staring into a light source feels different to everyone I have ever known that staring at normal objects reflecting light, like

Ok. Regardless of the intuition, staring into a light source feels different to everyone I have ever known that staring at normal objects reflecting light, like paper etc. Someone above claimed that reflected daylight was a lot more nits than a laptop could put out so I was going with the idea that this is true. I can look at paper in bright daylight with no eye strain. I cannot look at most LCDs even at low brightness without bad eye strain. It's not PWM in my case as I have ruled that out. Its much worse on LED displays. Fact remains that staring at backlit stuff gives people eye strain in ways printed or reflective never does and it seems logical that staring at the direct light source is a part of this. I know its not scientifically measuring nits/lumens etc but stare into even a low wattage (15w etc) light bulb for a few min and see how it leaves you feeling...seeing spots etc. Then stare at a newspaper or book or E-Reader under a 250w lightbulb or even brighter sunlight outside...and notice how you do NOT have that same problem. Even with a much brighter light source there is something different about how/how much actually enters your eye. I'd love an answer as this is a major life problem for me.

enriquto 8y ago
I think the difference may be in the contrast between the letters. A printed paper under the sun is very bright, but the black letters absorb most of the light and they are very dark and easy to tell apart. For a bright computer monitor, both the black and the white pixels are very bright, forcing the eye to strain itself to distinguish between two very bright intensities, which is difficult. Does it add up?
- hestipod 8y ago
  I am sure contrast is a variable but overall this still doesn't seem to solve the issue for me. A faint grey pencil on paper is not straining, but even the best contrast displays like OLED are very straining. It's literally again the light shining at you and the entire thing you are looking at being a light source that I believe is the problem. I don't see sparkles or glows or any of those sorts of things looking at printed text or reflective tech...but I do see it when an LCD display is backlit. Even the blackest black on an LCD, on a white background, has an illuminated feel vs a printed/flat feel. The only time reflective tech/paper bothers me is if there isn't enough light to see normally as with anyone. LCD's, esp most LED ones, it's nearly all the time. If I look at a matte LCD display (glossy doesn't work in this example due to reflection) in bright sunlight there is a narrow window of display brightness where the things are bright enough to be readable but the sunlight overwhelms the "lit" effect and it appears sort of like you would expect color E-ink too...more flat and printed like the display is now reflective rather than backlit..but it's a very narrow sweet spot that's hard to maintain and I cannot seem to replicate well with artificial lighting inside as it takes a lot more than a 60w bulb even directed right at the display and glare starts to become a factor with a more concentrated light source vs ambient, indirect light from outside. Brightness too low and it's unreadable due to contrast, too high and you get the glow again. To me the root problem is the backlighting somehow...possible combined with dithering or other rendering games that cause even static images to be moving as far as the eye is concerned. But it's not a common enough issue for industry to care about, and as with most things, until individuals suffer from something themselves, they often refuse to believe it's an issue for others.

enriquto 8y ago

I think the difference may be in the contrast between the letters. A printed paper under the sun is very bright, but the black letters absorb most of the light and they are very dark and easy to tell apart. For a bright computer monitor, both the black and the white pixels are very bright, forcing the eye to strain itself to distinguish between two very bright intensities, which is difficult. Does it add up?

hestipod 8y ago
I am sure contrast is a variable but overall this still doesn't seem to solve the issue for me. A faint grey pencil on paper is not straining, but even the best contrast displays like OLED are very straining. It's literally again the light shining at you and the entire thing you are looking at being a light source that I believe is the problem. I don't see sparkles or glows or any of those sorts of things looking at printed text or reflective tech...but I do see it when an LCD display is backlit. Even the blackest black on an LCD, on a white background, has an illuminated feel vs a printed/flat feel. The only time reflective tech/paper bothers me is if there isn't enough light to see normally as with anyone. LCD's, esp most LED ones, it's nearly all the time. If I look at a matte LCD display (glossy doesn't work in this example due to reflection) in bright sunlight there is a narrow window of display brightness where the things are bright enough to be readable but the sunlight overwhelms the "lit" effect and it appears sort of like you would expect color E-ink too...more flat and printed like the display is now reflective rather than backlit..but it's a very narrow sweet spot that's hard to maintain and I cannot seem to replicate well with artificial lighting inside as it takes a lot more than a 60w bulb even directed right at the display and glare starts to become a factor with a more concentrated light source vs ambient, indirect light from outside. Brightness too low and it's unreadable due to contrast, too high and you get the glow again. To me the root problem is the backlighting somehow...possible combined with dithering or other rendering games that cause even static images to be moving as far as the eye is concerned. But it's not a common enough issue for industry to care about, and as with most things, until individuals suffer from something themselves, they often refuse to believe it's an issue for others.