We’re a 21st-century company at brass. We drive hover cars (or at least we wish we did), drink our food in astronaut pouches, and we use computers for pretty much everything we do. Research, writing, editing, even communicating with one another: almost all of it’s done in front a computer screen.
Between work, school, and homework, my eyes were starting to get tired of looking at monitors. I don’t consider myself hardcore, but I’ve estimated that I probably spend five or six hours a day on the computer.
All that time added up and I was starting to get eye strain, so I started thinking of ways to protect my baby blues. I made sure there was no glare coming from my window, I increased the text size on my screen, and I made sure that my monitor brightness settings were neither too dark nor too light. I also remembered to take breaks during marathon sessions, and allowed my eyes to adjust to objects further away than a few feet while I was working.
Still, I was having some trouble. I remembered a product from an article I had written (to be published in the February 2010 issue). They were glasses specifically designed for computer users. At first I assumed it was just a way for the company to take you for $150 bucks. But I went to my optometrist (just to make sure nothing was amiss) and he said that tinted glasses could be helpful, especially those with a reflective coating to reduce glare.
Having freed yet another moth by opening my wallet, I instead decided to find something similar that was more reasonably priced. I went with a $20 pair of Chili’s Tarton glasses I found at my local bicycle shop. That's me wearing them in the photo (thanks to Dawson Hunter for the shot).
As I popped them on and stepped outside, I immediately noticed a difference. Everything was contrasting a lot better, and it was overall just easier to see. It made sense because they were designed for the outdoors, but would they protect me from the demon-blue glare of my monitor?
In a word, yes! Sliding in the chair and pulling up a website, I felt like my eyes didn’t need to work as hard to scan the pages and read stuff. Again, the contrast was a lot sharper, and because I’m not a graphic artist, I didn’t mind the yellow hue it lent to everything. In fact, I started liking it after a while. I noticed that with the glasses on, shapes (both real and computer-simulated) were easier to discern, as the colors were muted and more similar because of the yellow lenses. After a few hours (remembering to take breaks, as always), I hadn’t noticed any discomfort that I definitely would have had I not been wearing glasses.
The verdict: a success, as long as you don’t mind seeing the world in subtle shades of yellow, and maybe looking a bit more like Bono than you'd normally be comfortable with. But beware! While there’s some eye technology that genuinely helps people, there’s also stuff that seems a bit gimmicky. Then again, that’s what I thought about having glasses for using a computer…
--Brandon
Hi Brandon
It has been a while since I was here reading your write-ups.
I enjoyed this one about your glasses.
I agree it did sound like a gimmick at first, but then as you went on, it sounded more like it might work.
So I think you have proved that it does work, good for you.
Maybe I will even give it a try. Hugs from your friend Rosalyn
Always good to see your comments! I would say that the $20 has been well worth it, as long as you don't mind the color shift that occurs. Since almost all of what I do is reading and editing text, they've worked beautifully. If you try it, let me know how it works out!
--Brandon
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