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LCD screens are a wonderful technology that has unfortunately been adopted for a whole range of unsuitable applications. this article talks about writing, but

LCD screens are a wonderful technology that has unfortunately been adopted for a whole range of unsuitable applications. this article talks about writing, but I want to highlight the viewing part. LCDs were not made to be stared at for hours on end, e-ink displays on the other hand were made exactly for that purpose. they don't tire your eyes more than a piece of paper and they require external light to be visible. this is very much in tune with how every single object has worked in the whole history of humankind until the invention of artificial illumination. in my opinion working for 8 hours in an office starting at an LCD screen should be considered as damaging as sitting at a computer for 8 hours with an incorrect posture. you end up with a headacke and your eyes burn, and the rest of the day is just painful to continue. this wouldn't be the case if some technology was invented that had the refresh rate and color palette of standard LCD screens while having the pleasant viewing experience of digital paper. I think many people would drop their books or even their e-book readers if normal tablet or computer monitors weren't painful to look at.

danuker 4y ago
[citation needed] You make many unsubstantiated claims. I don't get headaches from staring at an LCD even 14h/day.
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  > I don't get headaches from staring at an LCD even 14h/day. You are probably a young person (sorry for assuming) I didn't get headaches when I was 18 and stared for 14 hours straight at a 1024x768 14 inches CRT monitor at 85Hz interlaced. p.s.: the term you're looking for is "screen headaches" p.p.s.: http://oaxis.com/lcd-screens-harmful-effects/ http://oaxis.com/lcd-screens-harmful-effects/
  - christophilus 4y ago
    I’m in my 40s and don’t get these. How old do you have to be before they set in? I have glasses— without those, I’d probably get a headache. I also use a very high quality 5k monitor and proper lighting. Maybe those make a difference? Maybe I won the genetic lottery? Dunno.
    - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
      I don't get headaches, but know many people who do and the frequency have increased lately during covid. What I suffer from since Covid restrictions settled in and had to work from home all the time, confined in a space that cannot be easy illuminated properly, is blurred vision. I don't suffer from it after reading an ebook on an e-ink in natural light, but I do after a day of work in front of my laptop display (can't easily move the 30 inches display I had at work because insurance, laws, bureaucracy etc) so mine it's not exactly a scientific study, but a close friend of mine she's an optometrist and she said to me that people reporting eye strain, blurred vision and headaches have almost doubled.It affects older people much more than the younger ones of course, but are treating kids too, that were a rarity before. They all have in common spending a lot of time in front of an LCD displays at home. I'm middle 40s.
    - qnr 4y ago
      Same, never got any headaches from any screens. Regardless of the type of the screen, lighting or viewing position. Have been using computers for almost 25 years, with many 10h days and occasionally 15+ hours. As I got older I started getting neck pain though, if I sit too awkward. But still no headaches ;)
  - ergonaught 4y ago
    I’m 51 and have been staring at screens for 40 years, on average rather close to the amount of time I’m awake, and I can’t really connect that to headaches.
  - danuker 4y ago
    I am 30. I guess that is young-ish. I try to take care of my health.
mrob 4y ago
If your LCD is tiring your eyes, it's set too bright. E-ink has the advantage that it automatically shows the correct brightness for the lighting conditions, but there's nothing inherently less tiring about it. I have keybinds set to change my monitor brightness using DDC, so I can easily adjust my LCD's brightness as needed.
- AstixAndBelix 4y ago
  >there's nothing inherently less tiring about it e-ink doesn't flicker. I know that past a certain number of Hz our brain just mushes the images together and we magically perceive that the motions on the screen are fluid, just like we believe our electric lights are completely on all of the time. But even though our final perception might be continuous, maybe there are steps in the image processing pipeline in our brain where something gets overloaded by the discrete refreshing of the screen.
  - mrob 4y ago
    My LCD doesn't flicker either. Some LCDs use pulse-width modulated backlights, which do flicker, and there are gaming LCDs with optional strobing to improve motion clarity, but these are not inherent to the LCD technology.
    - AstixAndBelix 4y ago
      Maybe you're misunderstanding the usage of "flicker" here. I'm not saying that I can see my monitor flickering, because nobody can past a certain refresh rate. What I'm saying is that any monitor inherently flickers because of its refresh rate, independently of our perception.
      - sho_hn 4y ago
        Refresh rate is not the same as flicker. Refresh rate is the rate at which new information is displayed. Flicker is things turning on and off. As the parent mentioned, some screens use fast cycles of turning on/off to modulate perceived brightness, but this is not always the case.
BlueTemplar 4y ago
Even basic colour support (like 3 colours in addition to black, no grayscale) with a 1Hz refresh rate might be enough for me... And I would have expected us to have them by now, considering how colour e-paper has passed the prototype stage and is now widely used in supermarkets for labels ??
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
makeitdouble 4y ago
Working for 8 hours in an office is already considered damaging, staring at LCD or a pile of paper.

danuker 4y ago

[citation needed] You make many unsubstantiated claims. I don't get headaches from staring at an LCD even 14h/day.

peoplefromibiza 4y ago
> I don't get headaches from staring at an LCD even 14h/day. You are probably a young person (sorry for assuming) I didn't get headaches when I was 18 and stared for 14 hours straight at a 1024x768 14 inches CRT monitor at 85Hz interlaced. p.s.: the term you're looking for is "screen headaches" p.p.s.: http://oaxis.com/lcd-screens-harmful-effects/ http://oaxis.com/lcd-screens-harmful-effects/
- christophilus 4y ago
  I’m in my 40s and don’t get these. How old do you have to be before they set in? I have glasses— without those, I’d probably get a headache. I also use a very high quality 5k monitor and proper lighting. Maybe those make a difference? Maybe I won the genetic lottery? Dunno.
  - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
    I don't get headaches, but know many people who do and the frequency have increased lately during covid. What I suffer from since Covid restrictions settled in and had to work from home all the time, confined in a space that cannot be easy illuminated properly, is blurred vision. I don't suffer from it after reading an ebook on an e-ink in natural light, but I do after a day of work in front of my laptop display (can't easily move the 30 inches display I had at work because insurance, laws, bureaucracy etc) so mine it's not exactly a scientific study, but a close friend of mine she's an optometrist and she said to me that people reporting eye strain, blurred vision and headaches have almost doubled.It affects older people much more than the younger ones of course, but are treating kids too, that were a rarity before. They all have in common spending a lot of time in front of an LCD displays at home. I'm middle 40s.
  - qnr 4y ago
    Same, never got any headaches from any screens. Regardless of the type of the screen, lighting or viewing position. Have been using computers for almost 25 years, with many 10h days and occasionally 15+ hours. As I got older I started getting neck pain though, if I sit too awkward. But still no headaches ;)
- ergonaught 4y ago
  I’m 51 and have been staring at screens for 40 years, on average rather close to the amount of time I’m awake, and I can’t really connect that to headaches.
- danuker 4y ago
  I am 30. I guess that is young-ish. I try to take care of my health.

mrob 4y ago

If your LCD is tiring your eyes, it's set too bright. E-ink has the advantage that it automatically shows the correct brightness for the lighting conditions, but there's nothing inherently less tiring about it. I have keybinds set to change my monitor brightness using DDC, so I can easily adjust my LCD's brightness as needed.

AstixAndBelix 4y ago
>there's nothing inherently less tiring about it e-ink doesn't flicker. I know that past a certain number of Hz our brain just mushes the images together and we magically perceive that the motions on the screen are fluid, just like we believe our electric lights are completely on all of the time. But even though our final perception might be continuous, maybe there are steps in the image processing pipeline in our brain where something gets overloaded by the discrete refreshing of the screen.
- mrob 4y ago
  My LCD doesn't flicker either. Some LCDs use pulse-width modulated backlights, which do flicker, and there are gaming LCDs with optional strobing to improve motion clarity, but these are not inherent to the LCD technology.
  - AstixAndBelix 4y ago
    Maybe you're misunderstanding the usage of "flicker" here. I'm not saying that I can see my monitor flickering, because nobody can past a certain refresh rate. What I'm saying is that any monitor inherently flickers because of its refresh rate, independently of our perception.
    - sho_hn 4y ago
      Refresh rate is not the same as flicker. Refresh rate is the rate at which new information is displayed. Flicker is things turning on and off. As the parent mentioned, some screens use fast cycles of turning on/off to modulate perceived brightness, but this is not always the case.

BlueTemplar 4y ago

Even basic colour support (like 3 colours in addition to black, no grayscale) with a 1Hz refresh rate might be enough for me... And I would have expected us to have them by now, considering how colour e-paper has passed the prototype stage and is now widely used in supermarkets for labels ??

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

makeitdouble 4y ago

Working for 8 hours in an office is already considered damaging, staring at LCD or a pile of paper.