Throughout quarantine this summer, and with the start of the new school year, more and more of both my work and play time has moved to behind a screen.
I’ve averaged around 10-14 hours of screen time on my computer alone - so not counting time I spend messing around on my phone - so it’s definite that most of my day is spent staring at a Google Docs page or a game of Minecraft. I’ve definitely started to feel the effects of this much screen time, which has manifested itself as frequent headaches, eye strain, and more.
Since it’s not entirely possible for me to just stop using my computer, I looked into possible solutions and found blue light glasses as an option. I picked up the cheapest pair I could find on the internet, waited impatiently for my order to come in, and tried them out: here’s what I found, and what the research says.
Blue light glasses work by filtering out blue light from screens, since blue light is believed to be the source of a lot of eye strain from computers, theoretically protecting your eyes from glare and reducing retina damage from prolonged exposure to screens.
Not a lot of research has been done on blue light glasses, but they have been shown to help sleep habits, since blue light right before your bedtime does impact your ability to fall asleep. Personally, I have found them to help somewhat, but not super significantly. There are other ways that you can reduce eye strain, such as the 20-20-20 rule and maintaining a certain distance from your computer screen.
There are definitely ways that you can reduce eye strain besides blue light glasses, but if you are experiencing detrimental symptoms from too much screen time, and have some money to spare, it’s worth giving blue light glasses a shot!
