Monitor & Eye Strain

Charred · Joined: Aug 03, 2003 Posts: 1011 Location: Central PA

Many of us spend a great deal of time on the computer on a daily basis. Surfing, looking things up, reading, playing games, participating in many forums, etc.

Personally, these activities have taken its toll on the eyes. The strain has been bad enough that, for the past month or so, I have limited myself to about an hour or so daily.

Beside the obvious (way too many hours on the computer), what am I doing wrong?
1. Am I sitting too close (20 inches) to the monitor? What is proper distance?
2. Is my monitor too bright? How bright should it be?
3. My monitor is a CRT, should it be an LCD? Is an LCD monitor easier on the eyes?
4. Should I look down at or up to the screen? I am looking dead ahead.
5. Monitor is 17" Dell flat panel set at 1024 X 768, vid card is 32MB ATI Rage 128 Ultra, refresh rate is 85 Hertz.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Werebo

Charred wrote:

Many of us spend a great deal of time on the computer on a daily basis. Surfing, looking things up, reading, playing games, participating in many forums, etc.

Personally, these activities have taken its toll on the eyes. The strain has been bad enough that, for the past month or so, I have limited myself to about an hour or so daily.

Beside the obvious (way too many hours on the computer), what am I doing wrong?
1. Am I sitting too close (20 inches) to the monitor? What is proper distance?
2. Is my monitor too bright? How bright should it be?
3. My monitor is a CRT, should it be an LCD? Is an LCD monitor easier on the eyes?
4. Should I look down at or up to the screen? I am looking dead ahead.
5. Monitor is 17" Dell flat panel set at 1024 X 768, vid card is 32MB ATI Rage 128 Ultra, refresh rate is 85 Hertz.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Allo Charred Smile

,
According to here, you should have the monitor between 12" - 30" away and the top of the viewing area at eye-level. The brightness/contrast is relative to the amount of worklight around you, having the monitor too bright or too high a contrast will cause eyestrain and bad headaches, the same as if the settings are too low. It depends on your own eyesight Wink

Any work lights should be placed so as not to cause reflection or 'glare' on the screen, and the monitor's refresh rate should be set as high as the graphics card AND monitor can comfortably use. Too low a setting will cause a screen flicker, leading to the headaches again. Too high a setting will wreck the monitor/video card or both!!!

LCD or CRT monitor

..... This is more about workspace than health for the most part... the LCD will use a whole lot less space on your desk/table than a CRT, but purely personally, I prefer the CRT display... The LCD screen does give a nice 'crisp' display, but the CRT gives a more realistic 'warmer' display, especially where photo's/movies are concerned...

User: inactive Posts:

Ergonomics dictate distance, angle, brightness, etc.

But it all comes down to what feels good to you.

My optitian tells me that people fail to blink often enough when they work at a computer and this causes more eye strain. It was suggested that I use Artificial Tears to keep my eyes damp.

Using Computer Glasses is a good idea for anyone who spends long periods at their computer.

I don't like LCD's because they have more limited capabilities than a CRT and many of the ones I've seen have very large pixels. I could almost count them. That makes the screen look grainy. My 19" Sony Trinitron is as smooth as a photograph. NO pixelation.

Again....to each his/her own.

clhenry

My eyes were a mess from working on them daily. I switched to a LCD in the workshop and noticed a big improvement. Then i switched from my 19" crt personal computer to a 17" lcd, "can't really see a difference in size". My eyes feel like new again.

Charred · Joined: Aug 03, 2003 Posts: 1011 Location: Central PA

Thanks for the reply and link, Werebo. The information is appreciated.

I adjusted brightness and contrast a little and will go with that for a while to see it it will help.

Eyesight is otherwise okay.

I will google to find out about "computer glasses". That didn't take long and here is a link for others who may be interested: http://www.eyefatigue.com/cvs-computer-glasses.html

Is it true that some LCD monitors are less grainy?

Thanks for all the replys.

Werebo

FormalDaHyde · Joined: Jan 02, 2005 Posts: 1511

Werebo

Re: pitch size, I got the info from here. I must admit, I was surprised to see so low a size now, I thought it was down to about .22mm Embarassed

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At the end of the day though, it boils down to the pairs of eyes concerned Shocked

... What's good for some is near impossible for t'others Laughing

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The one suggestion I always make though, go out and look at and play with as many different models as possible, even if you don't buy it from that store... At the very least, it will give you a good idea of the display properties and whether it's suitable for your eyes Very Happy

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clhenry

Charred, here is a good link that explains the difference between them. Some good info here.

http://www.overclockinghq.com/articles/crt_vs_lcd.php

FormalDaHyde · Joined: Jan 02, 2005 Posts: 1511

Werebo

Another good and simple test is to look at the LCD screen, then take several steps sideways and note how quick the picture degrades Laughing

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Charred · Joined: Aug 03, 2003 Posts: 1011 Location: Central PA

Wow. A great deal of good information passed off by all.
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Image URL: http://imagehost.biz/ims/pictes/203676.gif

Yes, I did read it all FMD, and no need to apologize. I feel a lot of Gnomies will benefit from your writings and from the research and suggestions by all.

At this point, I will continue to test the new brightness and contrast levels for a few days. Hopefully, this alone will solve my problem. I really miss not being able to use the computer as much as I did in the past. On the plus side, I missed all the forum hiccups.

Thanks all for all the good links (yes, I did read some of them and will read the rest over the next couple of days), and for taking your time to help.

boardflak · Joined: Dec 06, 2002 Posts: 108

CRT vs LCD is definitely a "your mileage may vary" subject. In the plant/office where I do computer support, I've given LCD monitors to 40 or so users. Not a single one has ever wanted their CRT back - and in a few cases where an older LCD developed problems and I had to give them a CRT - or where they changed jobs and didn't have an LCD in the new location - they have nagged me until they got an LCD back. At present, I have to get new LCD purchases approved by our corporate offices (new rules), but I have a waiting list of users wanting LCDs when I can get them.

Of course, this is a work setup, and the number of soccer balls or players' numbers on the screens here are few, if any.

goretsky

Hello,

If you have started to have problems with your eyes after using the same computing equipment for a while without any prior issues, then it may be a good idea to visit your ophthalmologist for an eye exam. Our eyes change over time, and it is possible yours have shifted enough so what were once comfortable settings are now leading to some discomfort. An ophthalmologist should be able to help determine if this is occurring and recommend corrective steps to take to reduce or alleviate the problem.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky