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Personally I can't stand dark mode. It literally hurts my eyes. Strain after a few moments and interlacing ghost lines that linger in my vision for a minute. D

Personally I can't stand dark mode. It literally hurts my eyes. Strain after a few moments and interlacing ghost lines that linger in my vision for a minute. Does anyone else have this? Is it brain cancer?! edit: Thanks, I'm pretty sure it's not cancer. Question: But why me? Age? Staring too long at monitors? Drugs? It doesn't seem to effect too many others.

jrockway 7y ago
It's not brain cancer but rather an artifact of how the eye/brain system works. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterimage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterimage
- kleer001 7y ago
  Honestly, that's more of what I think. I figure I get a higher activation of my edge detection neurons. Somehow.
__s 7y ago
It's not brain cancer
- eknkc 7y ago
  Everything is brain cancer if you look it up online.
branko_d 7y ago
I have exactly the same experience.
butz 7y ago
Same here too.
benji_is_me 7y ago
Dark mode makes me tired, I think. I don't mind normal black text on a white background.
slazaro 7y ago
I think I read it has to do with having astigmatism. Which I have, and I also prefer light mode for the reasons you state.
sprayk 7y ago
Dark mode can cause strain on eyes. Lower total brightness means your pupils open up to be able to take in more light. Wider pupils means lower depth of field, i.e. less stuff in focus immediately in front of/behind whatever you are currently focused on. You are more susceptible to having to refocus from subtle movements with a lower depth of field. The less of a steady state your focus, the more the muscles involved in focusing are engaged, which might be a cause of the strain you are feeling. Similarly, this is why your eyes can hurt while reading in dimmer settings. It's not because low light itself is somehow harmful while reading, but because your eyes have a harder time staying focused as you naturally move while reading. edit: I adopted light themes everywhere after reading this, probably https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/53268 https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/53268 . Knowing depth of field from photography helped this make sense, as well as understanding (from conversations with a doctor in my family) that the generic feeling "strain" is most likely associated with muscle activity than anything else.
- inciampati 7y ago
  I use dark mode with large text for this reason. It's definitely true that you can read smaller text with light backgrounds, but the comfort is higher for me with less light from the screen, so I'm ok with less info on the screen and dark background.
rsynnott 7y ago
Astigmatism, possibly? IIRC, dark mode is worse for most users (though they may not notice it, and the placebo effect is powerful in this sort of subjective rating) but it's particularly bad for people with severe astigmatism.
pks016 7y ago
Same here. I hate dark mode. Especially websites in dark mode.

jrockway 7y ago

It's not brain cancer but rather an artifact of how the eye/brain system works. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterimage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterimage

kleer001 7y ago
Honestly, that's more of what I think. I figure I get a higher activation of my edge detection neurons. Somehow.

__s 7y ago

It's not brain cancer

eknkc 7y ago
Everything is brain cancer if you look it up online.

branko_d 7y ago

I have exactly the same experience.

butz 7y ago

Same here too.

benji_is_me 7y ago

Dark mode makes me tired, I think. I don't mind normal black text on a white background.

slazaro 7y ago

I think I read it has to do with having astigmatism. Which I have, and I also prefer light mode for the reasons you state.

sprayk 7y ago

Dark mode can cause strain on eyes. Lower total brightness means your pupils open up to be able to take in more light. Wider pupils means lower depth of field, i.e. less stuff in focus immediately in front of/behind whatever you are currently focused on. You are more susceptible to having to refocus from subtle movements with a lower depth of field. The less of a steady state your focus, the more the muscles involved in focusing are engaged, which might be a cause of the strain you are feeling. Similarly, this is why your eyes can hurt while reading in dimmer settings. It's not because low light itself is somehow harmful while reading, but because your eyes have a harder time staying focused as you naturally move while reading. edit: I adopted light themes everywhere after reading this, probably https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/53268 https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/53268 . Knowing depth of field from photography helped this make sense, as well as understanding (from conversations with a doctor in my family) that the generic feeling "strain" is most likely associated with muscle activity than anything else.

inciampati 7y ago
I use dark mode with large text for this reason. It's definitely true that you can read smaller text with light backgrounds, but the comfort is higher for me with less light from the screen, so I'm ok with less info on the screen and dark background.

rsynnott 7y ago

Astigmatism, possibly? IIRC, dark mode is worse for most users (though they may not notice it, and the placebo effect is powerful in this sort of subjective rating) but it's particularly bad for people with severe astigmatism.

pks016 7y ago

Same here. I hate dark mode. Especially websites in dark mode.