eXeler0n

The fear of blue light

Translations: de

A few years ago, the small program f.lux spread quickly through the Internet. The benefit? The screen is colored in warmer tones, reducing the amount of bluish light. This is supposed to create a more natural light in the evening hours and counteract problems falling asleep. During the day, the natural light outside is colder, and in the evening there is a red shift to warmer tones.

This function was then relatively quickly adopted by the major market players. In the meantime, all operating systems are capable of adjusting the light warmth of the screen depending on the time of day. Since there are applications where this is annoying, the setting is of course optional.

As far as I can see, the effect of blue light on fatigue, or the lack of it, has not yet been proven. Especially because screens emit a rather small amount of light compared to the natural light source sun, the influence on melanin production is questionable. Melanin is a hormone that controls our sleep. So during the day you want little melanin, in the evening before bedtime more.

Another argument against blue light: Too much blue light damages the eyes. This has also been proven and is not questioned. But the question is, what is "too much" blue light? A good display nowadays has an (actual) brightness of 350-500 cd/m². The brightness of the sun on a cloudless summer day is 8,000 cd/m², on a cloudy winter day 2,000 cd/m³. So one hour in the sun in summer corresponds to 16 hours of looking at the screen (roughly speaking, probably 8,000 cd/m² have a more intensive effect than 500 cd/m2).

Even though I'm not an expert now, for me blue light filters are certainly not harmful, but also not a must-have. Especially when you think about the glasses that offer such a filter. Sure, you can add it to your new glasses. But to buy a pair of screen glasses if you don't need them with your eyesight? In my opinion not necessary. But there seems to be a big market for them now, so the marketing has worked.

Stay fluffy!

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