My eyes are killing me

So, here’s my ridiculous story... I’m on my computer for a good couple of hours every single day. I used to wear glasses, but then my vision somehow cleared up on its own. One day, I pick up these new speakers and set them right next to my monitor. I ended up away on a trip for a few days and didn't touch my PC at all. When I finally got back and powered everything up, my eyes started watering and the screen looked just... off. Not totally distorted, but weird enough that I genuinely thought I'd ruined my eyesight. Turns out, it was just magnetic interference from the speakers... I felt like such an idiot

LadyInRed said:.....and.

By the way, I know there are non-prescription computer glasses out there—some people have sworn by them—but I haven't risked it since they’re basically $200 disposable and you supposedly have to swap them out every few months.

.............

Glasses exist, and depending on who makes them, they can be pretty decent for sensitive eyes or cheap monitors.
They work similarly to sunglasses, and some even feature an electrostatic coating—though I'm not entirely sure how much that actually matters; according to some, it's irrelevant.
But the idea that you have to replace them every couple of months...
😂
I mean, come on. It's not like they're made of cheese or something... why would they just expire?

Maybe try messing with your resolution settings—I’m running at 800x600 myself currently

and WATCH THE REFRESH RATE. You want that number as high as possible—honestly, you shouldn't be settling for anything under 85 Hz

Mine is sitting at 100

Look, I know what you're thinking—your icons are going to end up looking massive, like they're the size of a fist... but seriously, dropping the resolution while bumping up the refresh rate actually helps a lot

Also, it might be worth turning on some ambient lighting behind the monitor... maybe just a desk lamp or something

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/eye-health/art-20044414

My computer is actually wrecking my eyesight.

How much of this do you guys think is actually legitimate?

northernfalcon9 said:MY COMPUTER IS LITERALLY RUINING MY EYESIGHT

How much truth do you guys think there is in this?

I’m still standing by it—it’s absolutely true.☕ I proved it to myself with the new laptop I got for my job. After just thirty minutes of screen time, I can't even look at it anymore. My eyes start stinging, I get a massive headache... it's honestly awful.

Linda Peterson said:I’m sticking to my guns—it’s the truth☕ which I've personally verified with my new work laptop at the office. After just thirty minutes, I can't even look at the screen anymore; my eyes start stinging, I get a headache... it's just miserable.

After a mere half hour...😲
get rid of that piece of junk as soon as possible 🙂

boldeagle3 said:It’s been half an hour. 😲
Get rid of that piece of junk as soon as possible. 🙂

It’s the same story with every single laptop I pick up; give it thirty minutes of use and I'm facing the exact same issues.
I actually lucked out, so I get to pick out my own second computer for work.

My vision has been getting worse lately, too. 😢 My job is basically staring at a screen all day, and I don’t take any supplements. 😁
My eye doctor says I don't need glasses just yet, but since my eyes tear up and get crusty quite often, she thinks my tear ducts might be blocked. She suggested I head to a specialist to have them checked and cleared out if necessary. How does that cleaning process actually work, and why can only a specialist handle it?

To the people leaving comments claiming computer use doesn't affect vision—while they claim to use a PC for "a few hours a day"—you could just point out that using a computer for a few hours is NOT what we call heavy usage. 😁
When I say "a few hours," I mean I've been glued to a screen since I was five years old (I'm 28 now), and for the last five years, I've clocked over 10 hours every single day.

Also, I'll say it again: LCD monitors (like the ones in laptops) are much better than those old CRT monitors. The problem is that laptop screens are usually way too small, which forces you to strain your eyes. A 17 or 19-inch LCD would be the sweet spot for eye comfort.

boldeagle said:Says "a few hours"... man, I've been glued to a computer since I was five years old—and I'm 28 now...

😲

so you had a Commodore 64

or maybe a ZX Spectrum... or just something like that

pretty cool.

rustymoose54 said:😲

You probably owned a Commodore 64

or a Spectrum. Or something along those lines.

Cool.

I’ve had a ZX Spectrum since '83. Before that, from '81 to '83, I was rocking an Atari 2600. 🙂 😁

On another note, there's no sign of retinopathy or cataracts yet, but my vision is definitely losing its edge. My eyes tear up, things go dark periodically, and my night vision is pretty much non-existent...

banderas said:I’ve been rocking a Commodore 64 since back in '83. Before that, from '81 to '83, I was playing on an Atari 2600.🙂 😁

Anyway, I haven't even seen a hint of retinopathy or cataracts yet, nothing like that, but my vision is definitely getting blurry... eyes are always watering, things go dark for a second, and man, my night vision is just shot...

Nah, you probably won't even get r. 🙄 , you'd have to be dealing with some seriously messed up stuff over several years before you actually get stuck with that.
If your tear ducts are actually acting up, maybe ask if they can just give you some fake tear drops or something.

Supposedly—though I don't have any firsthand intel on this—yoga is supposed to help with the kind of strain and eye fatigue you're talking about.

I've had a prescription for both eyes (about a 20/40) since '88, plus a few tiny spots on my retina here and there, but they've been stable for ages now...

So, I headed over to the eye clinic today—the specialist gave me this rather peculiar look at first, probably because her charts indicate I have some vision issues in one eye 😁

Anyway, after the exam, she informed me that my eyes are actually perfectly healthy. I read through a few lines of the chart, but my vision got all blurry, so she prescribed some drops—basically just artificial tears 😁 which means since I spend my entire day staring at a computer screen, I’m stuck applying them five times a day 😲

All things considered, my eyes are fine... 🙂

I’ll try to keep this brief and skip the unnecessary fluff this time : ))

Computers don't actually damage your eyes. There isn't a single pair of glasses out there that offers any real benefit while you're working at a desk—unless we're talking about presbyopia, which basically just means anyone over 43, the standard American age demographic, or cases involving exo- or esophoria.

The real issue stems from a low blink rate; it's a proven fact that people blink significantly less when staring at a screen. Combine that with sitting too close to the monitor, and you have a recipe for disaster. First, it dries out the cornea and disrupts its function. To put it bluntly, the eye isn't getting enough oxygen because the moisture layer is compromised. Since there are no veins or capillaries in the optical zone, oxygen delivery depends entirely on external moisture provided by tears (specifically via the sodium-potassium pump, a concept quite central to ophthalmology). That dryness is what leads to blurred vision.

The second culprit is poor posture and proximity. If you're sitting too close, your eyes have to work harder to accommodate the image, requiring much more effort to focus. It doesn't matter if you do it for five minutes, but after several hours? I’d argue that over the long term, it causes a sort of spasm in the ciliary muscle, leading to those common complaints of failing eyesight. Ideally, you want to maintain a distance of about 28 to 31 inches from your monitor.

Other theories floating around are about as credible as research suggesting we can find dietary sugars sitting in the anterior chamber of the eye—which would imply myopia is caused by your diet. While interesting, that field of study is still in its infancy, and frankly, I think we know far too little to take such claims seriously just yet.

So, there it is. Don't mind me if my phrasing isn't perfectly polished; I never really mastered the nuances of formal academic prose anyway.

👋

Are you seriously suggesting the issue is strictly down to a low flicker rate, and it couldn't possibly be caused by a low refresh rate on the monitor itself?😉

I didn't say the issue was limited strictly to the flicker rate; how far you sit from the screen makes a massive difference. While a low refresh rate can certainly trigger a headache, it isn't typically the culprit behind blurry vision—though I wasn't making that assumption. I figured anyone using a computer professionally would already be well aware that these kinds of settings need to be optimized for long-term health.

Does anyone here actually know how to fix these monitor flicker and resolution issues? Honestly, I’m sitting at my desk right now and it’s already getting to me—it’s only been about an hour since I clocked in, but between the blurry screen and the eye strain, I’m already losing my patience 😠

When I get home, I can stare at my setup for hours without a single problem...

That’s really more of a conversation for the Hardware sub 😁

P.S. Give the monitor properties a look—just right-click on your desktop, hit properties, and you should find it there... set it to 100 MHz if you're running a CRT, or stick to 75 MHz if you've got an LCD