Save yourself from damaging effects of scorching screen brightness: experiences and tips

Do I use glasses? Not recommended, I would say. I woke up sometimes in July 2023 with blurry vision, which cleared after a few minutes. It was worrisome, as it was my first time experiencing such. What I could remember was sleeping quite late and exposing myself to the screen. That was the very day I made conscious efforts as regards the degree of exposure of my eyes to the screen. You may be itchy to know what I did in earnest after I experienced the blurry vision. Stay tuned for a while.

I remember seeing comments several times that Hive could be addictive, and this only means the Hiver has to frequently visit the screen. Do not get me wrong; it's not only hive that draws me to my screen. In fact, I do play games, hunt airdrops, watch movies, type documents, surf the net, etc. And all these require my eyes to be on the screen. Thus, in a day, I spend quite a lot of hours on the screen, which can range from the phone screen to my laptop. However, there are a few preventive measures that I put in place to ameliorate the harsh effect of the screen on my eyes. I can confidently say that I spend at least about a half of my wake period on the screen. This is quite a lot, as it means I spend at least six to eight hours on the screen every 24 hours. Alarming and dangerous to the eyes! Here, we may need to apply some measures to cushion the effect of excess exposure to the eyes. Ever heard of photophobia? And perhaps it is associated with throbbing headaches. Anyway, let's leave medicine and focus on lifestyle adjustments that would help.

ANTI-BLUE LIGHT PROTECTIVE SCREEN GLASS
And though the ophthalmologist I consulted saw no need for this, I went ahead and bought it for a token, less than ₦3, 000. Unfortunately, I can count the number of times I have used it. Hopefully, I can improve on its usage. However, the few times I used it, I enjoyed the view, which was not much different from my normal view. Also, I appreciated the blue ray that emanated from the screen; however, I could be a stubborn patient. Anyway, it's a fair buy if I'm using it occasionally or often.

LAPTOP SCREEN ADJUSTMENT KEYS
Have you been to the cinema recently? You may experience the room to be dark while the illuminations to be mild or moderate. There are knobs on our laptop keypads like these below that can be used to adjust the screen brightness. The negative sign attached indicates that the brightness can be reduced, while the plus sign means it can be increased. There you have it. Adjust your laptop screen according to how comfortably your eyes can accommodate it.

PHONE SCREEN LIGHT ADJUSTMENT
The phone is one asset that we often attach ourselves to. And surprisingly, we can have the phone brightness set to 100%, which can scorch our eyes. Fortunately, this high brightness consumes a lot of battery, and hence, users adjust the brightness for battery sake and not necessarily because of the eyes. The purpose remains achieved!

The phone's brightness can be decreased by the first bar, which has the sun ☀️ symbol underneath. With a simple drag down, the brightness can be reduced. Other keys to aid the reduction of screen brightness on the phone are adaptive brightness and eye care. These two should be put on so the screen can easily adjust to brightness when necessary and also have a milder color effect, respectively. The last and best of it is the dark theme. I use the dark theme almost everywhere, be it on the laptop or on my phone. The dark theme shades the brightness and gives a warm interface to the screen.

DISTANCE FROM THE SCREEN

My chairs are significantly distant from the television screen, and I also have a mouse with a long cord that I can attach to my laptop, so I do not have to get too close to the screen. These measures keep the screen a little far away from my eyes, which is a good practice.

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Did I tell you that I have not had any blurry vision since the first occurrence? Let me share with you my experience with the ophthalmologist. You know, doctors do not know it all, and hence, we have specialists. The specialist evaluated my intraocular pressure (IOP) over the course of one hour by giving me some water to drink prior to each 15-minute interval check. She said this was the alternative to an early morning check, for which the IOP is usually high. My IOP values were within the normal range, and her diagnosis was 'dried eyes', which was a result of infrequent blinking and exposure to bright light. The eyes are expected to bring unconsciously over a period of time, but during our periods of exposure to bright light and our interest in the subject on the screen, there is a tendency to unconsciously reduce the number of brings.

Her solution was simple: for every twenty minutes on the screen, take a twenty-second break by looking far away at objects that may be twenty inches away. Once again, doctors can be difficult patients, but thankfully for #hivelearners for this prompt, I should resume these and many more preventive measures. The importance of the eyes in daily life cannot be overemphasized.

Thank you for reading. I would love to have your comments and contributions.

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