Blue-blocking glasses might not do much of anything, says new review

In a study of studies, researchers concluded that eyeglasses that block blue light might not deliver on claims made by advertisers or optometrist offices. They caution consumers to think twice about shelling out the extra cash for the specs.

“The amount of blue light our eyes receive from artificial sources, such as computer screens, is about a thousandth of what we get from natural daylight," he said. "It’s also worth bearing in mind that blue-light filtering lenses typically filter out about 10-25% of blue light, depending on the specific product. Filtering out higher levels of blue light would require the lenses to have an obvious amber tint, which would have a substantial effect on color perception.”

mindbleach,

Redshift on Linux, f.lux on Windows, and Twilight on Android lower color temperature and total brightness by time-of-day. No glasses required. And if nothing else, it’s a nice continuous hint that you should go to bed.

TheEntity,

Note that Redshift is no longer maintained. There exists a maintained fork called Gammastep.

tripplehelix,
tripplehelix avatar

I use https://github.com/faf0/sct - Pretty great little package.

mindbleach,

Well, fuck. It’s still standard in Linux Mint.

Guess that explains why you still can’t change the settings outside of a console or conf file.

Kaldo,
Kaldo avatar

Windows has it built in now I think, no need for f.lux anymore unless you need more specific configuration

bedrooms,

Sorry to be an Apple boy; the Mac has it built in, yay!

CookieJarObserver,

Mine do, they are called sun glasses and the fucking Spectacles in total costs 870€

Pattern,

I think it’s pretty well understood that the psychological stimulation of screens has a larger impact on sleep schedules than blue light.

stopthatgirl7,
stopthatgirl7 avatar

I’ve got lenses that supposedly block UV and blue light, and they’ve been great, because they somehow block the spectrum of light that triggers migraines in me. They’ve got a slight amber tint to them, and I’m ok seeing the world in slight sepia tones since it means only getting migraines once or twice a year instead of once or twice a month.

reddig33,

But the infomercial for Blue Blockers ™ said so!

Cornfed,

I’ve worn Blu Blockers every day for at least ten years. They’re awesome. And they make all the green pop.

EnderWi99in,

I just use a screen filter on my desktop and phone about 2hrs before sleep and it makes a tremendous difference. I don't know of the alleged benefits outside of sleep, but I do know it clearly helps with that.

NightAuthor,

Do you regularly spend time outside during the day? I read that doing that will basically negate any need for managing screens like this.

VanillaGorilla,

Oh great, a week after I ordered my new glasses with a filter.

NightAuthor,

This has been discussed at length for years, this is a “review”, which means they just looked at older studies and compiled the information together. But each of those older studies had conclusions of their own.

If you ever question stuff like this, go check out google scholar and read some abstracts and conclusions, hell some papers even have a really solid background section that can fill an average Joe in enough to decently understand the whole paper.

VanillaGorilla,

Thanks, Google scholar is a good idea. My issue was I didn't know about the discussion yet, I just trusted the guy seeking the glasses. Oh well, next time I'll be slightly smarter.

TheOneWithTheHair,
@TheOneWithTheHair@lemmy.world avatar

Profit. These glasses produce profit, since it costs extra cash for these specs.

jon,
jon avatar

I'm sceptical that blue light lenses, even those that effectively block blue light, are doing much of anything. Blue light can mess with your circadian rhythm, but so can orange-tinted light if it's bright enough. A better system would be to limit screen time after dark. If you are using screens, lower their brightness to the lowest amount you can still see. You can use a night -time filter to tint the screen orange after dark (most OS's and devices support some form of this). Blue light lenses while holding a OLED device six inches from your face at full intensity? Likely not doing much.

NightAuthor,

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I read that your circadian rhythm is really set by basically the brightest light you see regularly. And just outside is orders of magnitude brighter than any screen you’d look at. So, as long as you anchor yourself to sunlight the rest is all quite negligible.

sugar_in_your_tea,

Yup, I lower the brightness and it really helps. I haven’t bothered getting any special glasses or screen filters or anything.

Javish,
@Javish@lemmy.world avatar

They need to be colored in order to block out the harmful parts of the light spectrum. Like the ones sold by RA OPTICS.

BrianTheFirst,

Source?

Javish,
@Javish@lemmy.world avatar

This is a good explanation from their blog:

raoptics.com/…/the-science-behind-ra-optics-dayli…

Javish,
@Javish@lemmy.world avatar
Eheran,

What harmful parts of the spectrum are screens emitting?

ripcord,
ripcord avatar

Ultraviolet rays, x-rays, and in some cases death rays. Need to protect yourself - only $399 is worth it!

Eheran,

I also need my death ray protection. Yes.

pinkwerdo,

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