Good habits for viewing computer monitors for long periods of time?

[Dustin2128]

My eyesight is pretty bad, and it's getting worse; and it's probably because I spend at least 2 hours a day on the computer, usually 4 times that. I've got two monitors, an LCD and a CRT each set to 1280x1024, and two pairs of glasses I can use, one of them half the strength of the normal pair. Is there a best habit for viewing computer monitors?

[Paqman]

Make sure your prescription for your glasses is up to date, your eyes do change over time. Make sure you give your eyes regular breaks by switching focus to something more than a few feet away regularly. Turn down the brightness a bit, having it too bright strains your eyes, but too dim can too as well. Don't sit too close, and make sure the top of the monitor is the same level as your eyes (most people have their too low).

[Gremlinzzz]

Blink don't forget to blink.

[linuxforartists]

Just read a helpful article on this very issue:

5 Important Tips for Better Eye Health in a Digital World (http://mashable.com/2010/11/25/eye-health/)

[juancarlospaco]

run this:

xset dpms force off

[Dustin2128]

run this:

xset dpms force off
:lolflag:

[del_diablo]

My eyesight is pretty bad, and it's getting worse; and it's probably because I spend at least 2 hours a day on the computer, usually 4 times that. I've got two monitors, an LCD and a CRT each set to 1280x1024, and two pairs of glasses I can use, one of them half the strength of the normal pair. Is there a best habit for viewing computer monitors?

I have had the same eyesight I have had now since.... 4 or 5 years ago?
I spend usually 3+ hours in front of the computer each day. On weekends it is a lot more.
If your eyesight has gotten worse, it is time to check where you are in contrast to the computer screens, how they are calibrated, and how much light there are around when you read good books.
I would recommend to get a bunch of led lights and use them for backlights behind the monitor, it helps a lot, and I would recommend to attempt to force yourself to relearn how to blink(if you ever used lenses for a extended periode of time, you will most likely know why).

[CharlesA]

Ever since I switched from using CRTs to an LCD, I've been fine unless I am on the computer for 8+ hours with no breaks.

[dpny]

I've had glasses since the fourth grade, and my job means staring at monitors for 8 to 10 hours a day. I've found two things make a lot of difference. The first is having a good quality LCD monitor: the lack of glare from LCDs is an enormous improvement over CRTs. Stay away from super cheap LCDs, as the displays can be fuzzy, which doesn't help. MY current monitor is an HPZR22w, which renders even, clear text and consistent color.

The second thing is to have the monitor two feet or so away from your face. I don't know why, but this really helps me. I'd rather have larger type size, farther away, than the opposite.

[madjr]

http://www.workrave.org/

is in the software center. A real life saver

your eyes suffer from RSI and strain

reading or staring at something for too long is bad.

mildly cold water on your eyes from time to time give some relief too

[inearlygaveup]

run this:

xset dpms force off

What does this do please

[Oxwivi]

Blink don't forget to blink.
+ zillion

I always got burning dry eyes problem when gaming due to my apparent lack of blinking which I noticed myself. Blink, even if it's voluntarily.

[Sean Moran]

Try to remember to just look away from the screen every now and then, and focus on the room, however uninteresting it might be. Observe the light parts of the room and the dark parts too (good for the cones in the retina), and then blink while you count to ten, and then return to the colourful world on your screen (good for the rods of the retina).

Also, remember your blood circulation. When you sit for a long time in a chair at a desk, the blood rushes to your legs, so every now and then, (when you're alone because it looks rather silly in public), oscillate your knees in and out to get the blood in the leg muscles to pump back up to the brain again.

[toupeiro]

http://www.workrave.org/

is in the software center. A real life saver

your eyes suffer from RSI and strain

reading or staring at something for too long is bad.

mildly cold water on your eyes from time to time give some relief too

Damn, you beat me to it. I actually put this in my skeleton directory for new users in my work environment and let them tune it (or disable it) accordingly.

[Aquix]

Hi all. ..

I have the same problem since I use a lcd tv as monitor, but found it helped a lot with a dark theme and not having anything white on the screen. Like using the stylish addon in Firefox with a script called Carbon Nitro that works on all sites and makes all the white on webpages darker. The colors can easily be edited in the script.
Also use gray text on dark backgrounds in terminals and text editors. If I turn any of them off my eyes burn. :)

[Sean Moran]

Hi all. ..

I have the same problem since I use a lcd tv as monitor, but found it helped a lot with a dark theme and not having anything white on the screen. Like using the stylish addon in Firefox with a script called Carbon Nitro that works on all sites and makes all the white on webpages darker. The colors can easily be edited in the script.
Also use gray text on dark backgrounds in terminals and text editors. If I turn any of them off my eyes burn. :)
I agree that a dark screen with light green text is easier on the eyes than the bright lights of Redmond and Adobe. If we want to print it on paper, we can do it with sepia backgrounds and dark fonts, but wait and see all the court cases to come in twenty years for people who have gone blind from too much ubuntuforums.org.

When your tv turns off it is like your monitor - it goes black. Mess with reality and soon enough there will be a class action to mess with all these fools with their bright white backgrounds.

Now I reckon I might go and have a nice healthy cigarette. Good for my eyes to take a smoke every hour or so, isn't it?

[3Miro]

I spend most of my time in front of a computer, here are some things that I do:

- surrounding light makes huge difference. I prefer fluorescent lamp white light in the background and I hate the regular yellowish light. This may be different for you.

- keep an eye on the window, don't let sunlight glare hit your screen. Don't let any light reflect/glare off the screen.

- Don't use CRT, get rid of it. LCD only and make sure you use native resolution and good refresh an brightness parameters.

- Figure out the brightness settings on your LCD and figure out the optimal ones for the different tasks that you use. I have three settings, low brightness for the text and typing and two brighter ones for when I am playing games or watching movies (depending on the game and the movie as well the time of day).

- Figure out the font settings on your system and find the scheme that is easiest for you to read. The first thing that I do when I have a KDE is to enlarge the fonts. Ubuntu + Gnome is fine for me, but on other distributions I have to fix Gnome and XFCE fonts as well.

[inearlygaveup]

I tried these Redshift and f.lux and Redshift seems to work best for me on 10.04 - Lucid Lynx.

[koenn]

Now I reckon I might go and have a nice healthy cigarette. Good for my eyes to take a smoke every hour or so, isn't it?

Totally agree,
it makes you take your eyes away from the screen, shift focus to a longer distance, and helps your circulation, as you walk to the nearest door or smoker's corner.
Excellent.

[madjr]

lung cancer

[koenn]

lung cancer

lung cancer is a good for viewing computer monitors for long periods ?

[darrenn]

My advice consists of three letters "LED". It cost's a little bit more than lcd but it's worth it.

[handy]

I've got a monitor for each eye.

[Dustin2128]

My advice consists of three letters "LED". It cost's a little bit more than lcd but it's worth it.

I'm pretty much broke. By the way, I've heard that CRTs are good for viewing for long periods of time, why should I not use it?

[sandyd]

My eyesight is pretty bad, and it's getting worse; and it's probably because I spend at least 2 hours a day on the computer, usually 4 times that. I've got two monitors, an LCD and a CRT each set to 1280x1024, and two pairs of glasses I can use, one of them half the strength of the normal pair. Is there a best habit for viewing computer monitors?
LED monitors are better, CRT monitors flicker.

The top of the monitor should be at your sitting posture's eye level (meaning you can see the top of the monitor if viewing it horizontally.

Try redshift.

Consider getting an LG, or another brand of montior that has an ambient light detector (my flatron 32350 has one)

[sandyd]

I'm pretty much broke. By the way, I've heard that CRTs are good for viewing for long periods of time, why should I not use it?
You have to understand how CRT monitors work.

CRT monitors (or TVs) work by firing electrons that are directed onto a screen with a powerful electromagnet. The electromagnet directs the electrons to create the image.

The image is made from top-down.

Therefore, the image flickers. Even though it might not be noticible, its not good for your eyes.

LCD/LED monitors project everything instantly, so no issue with flicker unless your monitor is dying or your vertical/horizontal refresh is screwed up.

[darrenn]

I'm pretty much broke. By the way, I've heard that CRTs are good for viewing for long periods of time, why should I not use it?

I once did a computer upgrade of new parts (processor, ram, motherboard) while I was unemployed. But yeah I don't know what country you live in so maybe im just lucky because of where I live.