How to reduce screen brightness below the device’s settings has always been a problem for me, and, I suspect, for anyone who is glare/light sensitive. In this post I propose 3 free filter apps with different characteristics and provide a link to some more screen filter apps, for those who love more options.
There are good reasons for insisting (here is the first post) on bluelight filter apps (in addition to being one important factor to figuring out How to sleep better at night):
What is photophobia is a relevant question until you are not sure you have it. Once you know you have photophobia, the really important question becomes What can I do to improve the quality of my life? This is because photophobia is likely to be affecting negatively your professional and personal life. I have been reflecting on this question as I was preparing a summary of the state of research on photophobia (see What is photophobia: definition, symptoms, causes, definition part 1 and part 2). Here are my afterthoughts.
This is the second part of my summary of the article Shedding Light on Photophobia. It concerns the article’s last section on diagnosis and photophobia treatment. (You may read about photophobia definition, symptoms and causes here).
Exactly, what is photophobia? It turns out it is not so clear, even for the scientists. Photophobia symptoms are obvious and form part of the definition of the condition. However, when you need a photophobia treatment, it gets complex. In many cases it is very difficult, when not impossible, to determine what causes photophobia. Here is the abstract of a recent (2012) overview of the most relevant photophobia research titled Shedding Light on Photophobia:
Below I reproduce the table of Conditions associated with photophobia adopted from the article Shedding Light on Photophobia. It was published in the Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology in 2012 and is (to the best of my knowledge) the most recent review of the research related to photophobia. You may read a summary of the article in the post: What is photophobia: definition, symptoms, causes and treatment.
f.lux software is another, excellent way to reduce glare on computer screen. There are excellent reviews (for example here, here, and here) along with simple instructions of how to use and personalize this user friendly software. If you do computer work at night, or under artificial lights only, f.lux software may help you sleep better and reduce computer eye strain. I have been using f.lux software for about half a year now and I’ve been thrilled to discover that people with light sensitivity (photophobia) can benefit from f.lux software in some unexpected ways.
Having reduced direct sun glare from your computer screen (and workstation) you now discover new glare you hadn’t noticed before. Being subtler this glare is more difficult to detect. You might not even notice the glare itself (depending on the level of your light sensitivity) but you do feel its effects after prolonged viewing of your computer screen: eye strain, general fatigue, tension around the eyes, headaches, etc.
I have a long history of trying to figure out how to reduce glare on computer screen. For a light sensitive person, this is a difficult and complex task of cutting out glare and reflections one after another. You start with the glare that bothers you most and once you tame that one you discover another disturbing glare. So you continue until you find a tolerable solution. My intention with the next several posts is to revisit the process of reducing glare on computer screen (indoors). I hope the articles will help you find good solutions to your specific situation faster. This post is on what to do if the sun shines into your office.
You are probably familiar with the sight above … and subsequent eyestrain, general fatigue, headache, … – computer vision syndrome (CVS). Glare on computer screen need not be as strong to cause these effects and make you wonder How to reduce glare on computer screen. It’s not easy, particularly if you have lower tolerance to light.
GLARminY 