6 ms·

'My eyes hurt' searches spike on Google following solar eclipse

49 points by mikece 3y ago

jurassicfoxy 3y ago
A little evolutionary pressure can't be a bad thing, right?
- robocat 3y ago
  FYI Evolutionary pressure is mostly failure to reproduce. There needs to be enough damage or death before reproduction. Women past menopause can only affect evolution by preventing their children from reproducing. Slightly damaged eyesight would hardly affect evolution.
  - jurassicfoxy 3y ago
    Being blind must. It's evolution pressure, not evolutionary dead-end.
    - CommitSyn 3y ago
      We are a very compassionate society. There are dating and matchmaking services for people with virtually every kind of disability, including those who absolutely can not care for themselves, and modern health infrastructure affords the mentally disabled and other selective pressures (narrow birth canal and many other issues) to carry to term. The same evolutionary pressures don't apply to humans at the moment with regard to sex. Not while civilization is a thing, anyway.
- stevula 3y ago
  It isn’t exactly intuitive that when the sun’s light appears to be blocked it is nevertheless dangerous to stare at the eclipse because of invisible UV rays. This is something you specifically have to learn and is only relevant for a very rare event. Seems kind of harsh to consider people stupid for not knowing that. Then there are also ineffective counterfeit eclipse glasses that people unknowingly bought…
  - jader201 3y ago
    > It isn’t exactly intuitive that when the sun’s light appears to be blocked it is nevertheless dangerous to stare at the eclipse because of invisible UV rays. If you’re claiming it’s unsafe to view totality without protection, NASA disagrees with you: > You can view the eclipse directly without proper eye protection only when the Moon completely obscures the Sun’s bright face – during the brief and spectacular period known as totality. https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/safety/ https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/safety/
  - jurassicfoxy 3y ago
    In 2024 anyone who can use Google knows full well that they shouldn't be staring into the sun.
    - effingwewt 3y ago
      Because young children are incapable of typing into search, right? Now you're just being obstinate to avoid admitting your premise was flawed.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago
Mine is from sunscreen
barbarr 3y ago
The map is especially hilarious! You can infer the path of the eclipse from it. [0] [0] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=US&q=my%20eyes%20hurt https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=...
- bsimpson 3y ago
  The path of the eclipse, and then randomly Chico/Redding.
- SpaghettiCthulu 3y ago
  Error 429? Did google trends get hugged to death?
- throwiforgtnlzy 3y ago
  Vermont appears to have been sunny. Most of TX was cloudy as London in winter.
skybrian 3y ago
Possibly some people's eyes hurt for random reasons on any given day, but they think it might be the eclipse whether it was or not.
Havoc 3y ago
Fake glasses is just pure evil
- 486sx33 3y ago
  Damn you, Chinese Indian-Ustrial complex !
- Karawebnetwork 3y ago
  A school near me ordered 3,000 pairs of eclipse glasses from Amazon. It turned out that they were fakes. It was very difficult to get them back because they had already been distributed to the students. As far as I know, they had to fall back on explaining how to build eclipse boxes during the weekend which, although cool, aren't as cool.
  - Havoc 3y ago
    How did you determine that they were fake? Hope they gave amazon a hard time about it & failing good response went to local news. Marketplaces have to get heat for bullshit like this. Endangering 3000 kids is not "oh i didn't know my bad" territory.
- beej71 3y ago
  For sure. I never trusted them. I got a #14 welders glass for the annular about 13 years ago or whenever it was and it's served me well ever since.
seo-speedwagon 3y ago
Reminds me of 2020 when there was a spike in “it doesn’t smell at all!” negative reviews of scented candles
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
mmmmmbop 3y ago
> If you did look at the eclipse without protection and are experiencing pain, you should seek medical assistance. I wonder if that's true. It would seem that there's nothing a doctor could do at that point.
- Shawnj2 3y ago
  I think they would be able to check for symptoms of traumatic brain injury
Uptrenda 3y ago
Gonna be honest. I feel that using those glasses that look like they were included in a cereal box as UV safety glasses is peak low IQ. Risking your eye sight which is supposed to last a life time to see a tiny black spot in the sky = not a good investment. Everyone has experienced complete darkness before. It happens every day... While footage of eclipses can be watched online. I wouldn't blame victims if their glasses didn't work. But the design of those crappy 'eclipse glasses' (with no backing at the sides to protect peripheral vision)... indicates manufacturers don't give a crap about protecting vision.
- pylua 3y ago
  I feel the same way. I seem to be in the extreme minority in my family, however. I’m surprised more people aren’t more concerned. It was overcast today where I live fortunately so it was basically a non event. I did however put on the cheap glasses and was surprised how poorly it fit ( like you said about side vision ).
- Terr_ 3y ago
  Last time I made a pinhole camera cardboard box, which--while dramatically less cool to wear over my head--at least involved safety measures I was confident in.
- wannacboatmovie 3y ago
  Have to disagree with this. There are a number of paper glasses made in the USA with quality solar filters that meet the ISO standard. There are also plenty of Chinese fakes out there that will fry your eyeballs - just like fake laser goggles, which is nothing new. That's why it's important to buy quality glasses from an authorized distributor and that means not Amazon. The material of the frame i.e. paper vs plastic has no relation to the quality of the filters in the glasses.
- nytesky 3y ago
  My daughters school supplies eclipse glasses, and when she got home she said her eyes hurt (but she’s a kinder so even just not blinking could be what’s going on) Her school gave her Frey branded eclipse glasses, probably bought from this site which no longer lists them https://www.schoolspecialty.com/ https://www.schoolspecialty.com/ They seem equal to our B&H glasses using the phone light, but it’s lacking the ISO logo (it does print the standard) nor does it have where it was made. Hopefully it’s okay, but I kind of expected schools to look for a validated distributor, and I’m not convinced this is one.
blackhaj7 3y ago
Blows my mind that “my eyes hurt” is something that people would type into Google. Perhaps I am using it wrong
- throwiforgtnlzy 3y ago
  Yep. /s But honestly a % of people will instinctively and stochastically Google anything that happens to them. It's readily apparent that using AI to identify potential bioterror attacks and pandemics by looking at both medical product and prescription purchase data in aggregate, and combining it with Google searches like how Google Flu Trends worked would be an excellent public service. This is similar to how BioSTORM worked. [0] 0. https://biostorm.stanford.edu https://biostorm.stanford.edu
- barbarr 3y ago
  I use Google like this unfortunately, I just search random things that come to mind if I want to know more. Example: I see a squirrel nibbling at a pinecone or something. My brain literally thinks to search "squirrel diet pinecone" or "what do squirrels eat pinecone" and if I have my phone on me I search that. Otherwise I just search it when I get home. I did an experiment where I ditched my smartphone for a year and this thought pattern went away. When I picked up the smartphone again the thought pattern came back.
  - blackhaj7 3y ago
    Your search terms make sense to me though. Whereas “my eyes hurt” seems like a crazy search term to me. I would ask something like “eye pain causes” rather than just tell Google my eyes hurt haha
nytesky 3y ago
We should be using these, I wish they made a $30 plastic version. https://myasp.astrosociety.org/product/OA113/sunspotter-solar-telescope https://myasp.astrosociety.org/product/OA113/sunspotter-sola...

49 points by mikece 3y ago

jurassicfoxy 3y ago

A little evolutionary pressure can't be a bad thing, right?

robocat 3y ago
FYI Evolutionary pressure is mostly failure to reproduce. There needs to be enough damage or death before reproduction. Women past menopause can only affect evolution by preventing their children from reproducing. Slightly damaged eyesight would hardly affect evolution.
- jurassicfoxy 3y ago
  Being blind must. It's evolution pressure, not evolutionary dead-end.
  - CommitSyn 3y ago
    We are a very compassionate society. There are dating and matchmaking services for people with virtually every kind of disability, including those who absolutely can not care for themselves, and modern health infrastructure affords the mentally disabled and other selective pressures (narrow birth canal and many other issues) to carry to term. The same evolutionary pressures don't apply to humans at the moment with regard to sex. Not while civilization is a thing, anyway.
stevula 3y ago
It isn’t exactly intuitive that when the sun’s light appears to be blocked it is nevertheless dangerous to stare at the eclipse because of invisible UV rays. This is something you specifically have to learn and is only relevant for a very rare event. Seems kind of harsh to consider people stupid for not knowing that. Then there are also ineffective counterfeit eclipse glasses that people unknowingly bought…
- jader201 3y ago
  > It isn’t exactly intuitive that when the sun’s light appears to be blocked it is nevertheless dangerous to stare at the eclipse because of invisible UV rays. If you’re claiming it’s unsafe to view totality without protection, NASA disagrees with you: > You can view the eclipse directly without proper eye protection only when the Moon completely obscures the Sun’s bright face – during the brief and spectacular period known as totality. https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/safety/ https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/safety/
- jurassicfoxy 3y ago
  In 2024 anyone who can use Google knows full well that they shouldn't be staring into the sun.
  - effingwewt 3y ago
    Because young children are incapable of typing into search, right? Now you're just being obstinate to avoid admitting your premise was flawed.

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 3y ago

Mine is from sunscreen

barbarr 3y ago

The map is especially hilarious! You can infer the path of the eclipse from it. [0] [0] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=US&q=my%20eyes%20hurt https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=...

bsimpson 3y ago
The path of the eclipse, and then randomly Chico/Redding.
SpaghettiCthulu 3y ago
Error 429? Did google trends get hugged to death?
throwiforgtnlzy 3y ago
Vermont appears to have been sunny. Most of TX was cloudy as London in winter.

skybrian 3y ago

Possibly some people's eyes hurt for random reasons on any given day, but they think it might be the eclipse whether it was or not.

Havoc 3y ago

Fake glasses is just pure evil

486sx33 3y ago
Damn you, Chinese Indian-Ustrial complex !
Karawebnetwork 3y ago
A school near me ordered 3,000 pairs of eclipse glasses from Amazon. It turned out that they were fakes. It was very difficult to get them back because they had already been distributed to the students. As far as I know, they had to fall back on explaining how to build eclipse boxes during the weekend which, although cool, aren't as cool.
- Havoc 3y ago
  How did you determine that they were fake? Hope they gave amazon a hard time about it & failing good response went to local news. Marketplaces have to get heat for bullshit like this. Endangering 3000 kids is not "oh i didn't know my bad" territory.
beej71 3y ago
For sure. I never trusted them. I got a #14 welders glass for the annular about 13 years ago or whenever it was and it's served me well ever since.

seo-speedwagon 3y ago

Reminds me of 2020 when there was a spike in “it doesn’t smell at all!” negative reviews of scented candles

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

mmmmmbop 3y ago

> If you did look at the eclipse without protection and are experiencing pain, you should seek medical assistance. I wonder if that's true. It would seem that there's nothing a doctor could do at that point.

Shawnj2 3y ago
I think they would be able to check for symptoms of traumatic brain injury

Uptrenda 3y ago

Gonna be honest. I feel that using those glasses that look like they were included in a cereal box as UV safety glasses is peak low IQ. Risking your eye sight which is supposed to last a life time to see a tiny black spot in the sky = not a good investment. Everyone has experienced complete darkness before. It happens every day... While footage of eclipses can be watched online. I wouldn't blame victims if their glasses didn't work. But the design of those crappy 'eclipse glasses' (with no backing at the sides to protect peripheral vision)... indicates manufacturers don't give a crap about protecting vision.

pylua 3y ago
I feel the same way. I seem to be in the extreme minority in my family, however. I’m surprised more people aren’t more concerned. It was overcast today where I live fortunately so it was basically a non event. I did however put on the cheap glasses and was surprised how poorly it fit ( like you said about side vision ).
Terr_ 3y ago
Last time I made a pinhole camera cardboard box, which--while dramatically less cool to wear over my head--at least involved safety measures I was confident in.
wannacboatmovie 3y ago
Have to disagree with this. There are a number of paper glasses made in the USA with quality solar filters that meet the ISO standard. There are also plenty of Chinese fakes out there that will fry your eyeballs - just like fake laser goggles, which is nothing new. That's why it's important to buy quality glasses from an authorized distributor and that means not Amazon. The material of the frame i.e. paper vs plastic has no relation to the quality of the filters in the glasses.
nytesky 3y ago
My daughters school supplies eclipse glasses, and when she got home she said her eyes hurt (but she’s a kinder so even just not blinking could be what’s going on) Her school gave her Frey branded eclipse glasses, probably bought from this site which no longer lists them https://www.schoolspecialty.com/ https://www.schoolspecialty.com/ They seem equal to our B&H glasses using the phone light, but it’s lacking the ISO logo (it does print the standard) nor does it have where it was made. Hopefully it’s okay, but I kind of expected schools to look for a validated distributor, and I’m not convinced this is one.

blackhaj7 3y ago

Blows my mind that “my eyes hurt” is something that people would type into Google. Perhaps I am using it wrong

throwiforgtnlzy 3y ago
Yep. /s But honestly a % of people will instinctively and stochastically Google anything that happens to them. It's readily apparent that using AI to identify potential bioterror attacks and pandemics by looking at both medical product and prescription purchase data in aggregate, and combining it with Google searches like how Google Flu Trends worked would be an excellent public service. This is similar to how BioSTORM worked. [0] 0. https://biostorm.stanford.edu https://biostorm.stanford.edu
barbarr 3y ago
I use Google like this unfortunately, I just search random things that come to mind if I want to know more. Example: I see a squirrel nibbling at a pinecone or something. My brain literally thinks to search "squirrel diet pinecone" or "what do squirrels eat pinecone" and if I have my phone on me I search that. Otherwise I just search it when I get home. I did an experiment where I ditched my smartphone for a year and this thought pattern went away. When I picked up the smartphone again the thought pattern came back.
- blackhaj7 3y ago
  Your search terms make sense to me though. Whereas “my eyes hurt” seems like a crazy search term to me. I would ask something like “eye pain causes” rather than just tell Google my eyes hurt haha

nytesky 3y ago

We should be using these, I wish they made a $30 plastic version. https://myasp.astrosociety.org/product/OA113/sunspotter-solar-telescope https://myasp.astrosociety.org/product/OA113/sunspotter-sola...