Despite overwhelming evidence of harm to the environment and public health, LEDs are taking over. Cash starved city government are highly motivated to “upgrade” street lights to LEDs. Some government jurisdictions are banning the use and/or sale of incandescent lamps. These sources are becoming cheaper and more ubiquitous in our homes. Even the “soft white” color lamps have a sharp spike at the blue end of the spectrum. The problem is much greater than our electronic devices.Īll energy efficient lighting, LED and florescent, emits strong blue light. We tend to read an article that says “blue light at night = bad” then we can “just get f.lux” and go on with our lives. People are always looking of an easy “set it and forget it” solution. The proximity to a light source make a huge difference in the biological response. If someone is holding the screen closer to their eyes, they are negating much of the benefits of using the app. In real life, people tend to counteract the effect by holding the screen closer to their face. The lower the back-light, the less blue will be emitted. Some of these apps reduce the screen brightness as well. People tend to hold the screen closer to their eyes In fact, this study demonstrates that “less than 1 lux of monochromatic light elicited a significant suppression of nocturnal melatonin”! My advice is to go the extra step and block all blue light exposure as part of your evening routine. There is a huge difference between reducing blue light and elimination it! These apps will reduce your blue light exposure and the stress on your eyes. With a little self experimentation, you can prove it to yourself. The silly-looking orange Uvex glasses are an actual filter that is far superior. These apps are great but not nearly as effective as a true filter. You can’t fix a hardware problem with software. Screens are always emitting some degree of blue light due to bleed through from the back-light. The problem lies with the screens themselves. They reduce or (on the highest settings) cut out the color blue. They are not nearly as effective as a proper filter That way your home lighting can shift in sync with your screen! I have not tried this feature yet but it seems pretty awesome. The newer version of the app can even sync with the Phillips Hue lighting system. You can turn it further to the red as you become accustomed to it. Most people start with a mild color setting at first. Of course people doing design work or other color sensitive work may not be able to use it. Once you get used to the colors, most people love the app and won’t go without it. As the evening wears on, the color shifts to amber/red over the course of an hour. In the daytime your screen is in full color spectrum. The idea is to match the color of your screen to the color of the ambient lighting. You set it to your time zone and the degree of color shift that you want and it does the rest. F.lux and other screen “filter” appsį.lux is a free app that automatically shifts the color of your screen to a reddish amber color as the sun goes down. Most people believe that is all they need to do. Apple now has Night Shift built in to their latest operating systems. F.lux is a very popular app for PC users. Most articles now recommend installing blue “filtering” apps. That’s great advice, but not practical for many people. The standard advice is no screen-time an hour or two before bed. These are compounded by lack of quality sleep. Circadian dis-regulation and chronic melatonin depletion have very serious health consequences. And it’s not only making it harder for us to fall asleep. Shining blue-rich light into our eyeballs at night is screwing with our body’s timekeeping mechanisms. It turns out that light at the blue end of the spectrum is how our bodies track what time of day it is. These screens that we’re staring into, emit large amounts of blue light. It seems that every week there are new studies and news articles about the dangers screen use at night. F.lux, Night Shift, and other screen “filter” apps are not the solution to circadian disruption and poor sleep.
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