Is Dark Mode Better For Your Eyes? And Here’s Why

Is dark mode better for your eyes? For some people who spend a lot of time staring at screens, the dark mode may lessen eye fatigue and dry eye. However, there is no conclusive evidence that proves dark mode works for anything besides extending the battery life of your device

Giving dark mode a shot to enhance your eye health is harmless. Visit your eye doctor to discuss additional treatments if you experience eye strain and dry eye symptoms in the future.

I’ll show you the post’s more in-depth details.

Is Dark Mode More Beneficial To Your Eyes?

The benefits of dark mode outweigh any potential risks to your eyes, though. Being less strenuous on the eyes than a stark, bright white screen, using dark mode is advantageous. However, using a dark screen forces your pupils to enlarge, which can make it challenging to maintain eye contact with the screen.

Why does eye dilating impair vision? Your vision becomes blurrier when your pupils enlarge. Your vision becomes clearer when you experience pupil constriction in bright light. A smaller aperture gives more depth of focus, just like in a camera. Because of this, dark mode may make it more difficult for some people to see screen details clearly.

People who have myopia or astigmatism also may experience halation (from the word “halo”). Halation, which results in a foggy or blurry appearance when light spreads past a specific boundary, occurs.

As a result, it can be more challenging to read white text on a black background, especially if the print is fine.

People who already have vision problems may benefit more from a dimmed light mode or blue-light-filtering mode since halation is more frequent and severe when using dark mode. No matter how you use your phone, the best way to ensure clear, comfortable viewing is to visit your eye doctor for routine eye exams and a current vision prescription.

Dark mode cannot alleviate underlying vision issues, both on and off screen. Additionally, if you’re getting new glasses, you can add specialized lens coatings that block blue light and glare at the same time.

What Is Dark Mode?

On many smartphone models, a setting called dark mode (or dark theme) is available. Light-colored text and icons are displayed on a dark background when the color scheme is inverted (dark mode). Most mobile devices are set to light mode by default, which overlays dark text on a white or light background.

To suit individual preferences, users can toggle on and off dark mode through their phone’s display settings. The entire user interface, including apps, is visible when dark mode is enabled.

Note: If you are unable to locate this setting in your settings, it’s possible that this feature goes by a different name or that your phone’s operating system is out-of-date and does not support dark mode.

Believe it or not, dark mode actually existed as the “norm” before light mode. Initially, monochrome monitors were the only choice for personal computers.

The phosphorus used in the monitors made the computer screen appear dark. In order to create letters and symbols against the dark background, electrons would ignite the phosphorus into another color, frequently green, when a key on the keyboard was depressed.

What Benefits Does Dark Mode Offer?

Dark mode offers a number of benefits, including increased battery life, less glare, and exposure to blue light.

Dark mode can increase battery life by up to 30%, reducing the frequency with which you need to recharge your phone. MORE BATTERY, LESS CHARGING Reducing the brightness in regular mode will also increase battery life if you find that reading is more difficult in dark mode.

Despite the fact that the majority of studies do not support this idea, exposure to blue light has been linked to symptoms of digital eye strain such as dry eyes, headaches, and blurred vision. However, science has shown that blue light can interfere with sleep cycles, meaning it can be difficult to get sufficient rest if you’re exposed to enough blue light close to bedtime.

LOWER BLUE LIGHT EXPOSURE: Turning on dark mode on your phone can help cut down on blue light exposure.

A blue light filter is also common on smartphones. The filter allows you to modify the amount of blue light that is emitted from your screen and should also be found in display settings. For those who struggle to see in dark mode but still want to avoid blue light, this is a great option.

AVOID SCREEN GLARE: If you’re watching your screen in a dark room, the bright light from default display settings can cause an annoyance glare, or an uncomfortably high contrast between the screen and your surroundings. Dark mode will significantly reduce screen glare for comfortable viewing.

In light mode, you can also manually adjust the brightness of your screen or set it to change automatically based on the lighting conditions. If you’d rather not use dark mode, both options will effectively lessen glare.

Disadvantages Of Dark Mode

There are also some disadvantages of dark mode:

• It’s not always better for eye strain. Contrasting light and darkness is not always good for the eyes. Content may appear washed out, causing more eye strain.
• Dark modes can be challenging to read, especially in bright, well-lit spaces.
• Battery power may not be conserved. On devices with older LCD screens, a dark theme won’t help your battery life. Your battery life is protected on OLED screens when they are in the dark.

Potential Effects Of Blue Light (+ Other Treatments)

The following conditions may possibly be linked to blue light (although more research is needed in terms of dry eye and eye strain):

• Dry eye
• Eye strain
• Insomnia

Treatment for these symptoms include:

• Melatonin supplements or sleep medications with a prescription for insomnia. eszopiclone or zolpidem, for instance.
• Eye drops containing corticosteroids or analgesics are used to treat dry eyes.
• eye strain treatment prescription glasses.

Other ways to prevent eye strain and reduce blue light exposure include:

• Consume enough water throughout the day to stay hydrated. This keeps your entire body, including the eyes, well-lubricated.
• Avoid screens for a while. You might try keeping your phone out of your bedroom overnight, as recommended by the AAO, who advise a minimum 20-second break after every 20 minutes of screen time. In the two hours prior to bedtime, you should also cut back on screen time.
• Use over-the-counter eye drops to hydrate your eyes and lubricate them. When working on a computer for a prolonged period of time, this is useful.

If you begin to experience alarming eye symptoms, especially if self-care remedies and preventative measures are failing, seek professional assistance.

Meet with an eye doctor if you notice any of the following:

• Significant eye strain or pain
• Chronic dry eye
• Consistent headaches or migraine attacks that do not respond to over-the-counter medication
• Vision obstructions
• Signs of an eye infection

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What Makes Dark Mode Recommended?

The most commonly known and scientific advantage of the dark mode is that it saves energy consumption on devices with OLED or AMOLED displays.

Each pixel is individually lit in OLED displays. The display uses more power when the background is white because all the pixels are on. The display’s power needs naturally decrease when the pixels are all black or even dark grey, as in dark mode.

Phones, monitors, and laptops with LCD screens cannot take advantage of dark mode because it is only compatible with OLED screens. This is due to the fact that LCD screens always use a back panel that is fully illuminated to produce illumination.

Also read: Does “true black” dark mode use less battery power than dark gray?

That said, a recent study suggested that you’re only really saving plenty of power if you’re switching from light mode at 100% brightness. Only 3% to 9% of the cost could be saved by switching from low to medium brightness, according to research.

The reduction of harmful blue light is another advantage of dark mode that we frequently hear about. Blue light is a high-energy visible light spectrum with the shortest wavelength. The Sun is the primary natural source of blue light for people, but our phones also emit a small amount of blue light.

According to a Harvard Health paper, excessive exposure to blue light can suppress melatonin secretion, a hormone necessary for getting proper sleep at night. It’s really not something you should be worried about, though!

Companies often make sweeping claims about how dark mode improves visibility, reduces eye strain, and makes it easier to use a device in low light. Nevertheless, it’s not always the case.

Why Not Use Dark Mode?

Although many people feel more at ease using dark mode in low light situations, it’s not always a good idea.

The natural ability of humans is to see things more clearly during the day and less clearly at night. Dark objects in our natural surroundings during the day or written text on paper are both examples of how we have evolved to see dark on light. Therefore, it is better for us to see dark on light rather than the other way around from a contrast and most basic perspective perspective.

The light on dark theme, especially for text, is not necessarily good for everyone, which is an important moot point against using dark mode for better visibility.

You Could Have Astigmatism

Canadian Association of Optometrists

According to the American Optometric Association, astigmatism is very common amongst people. Schaeffer Eye Center writes that nearly 30% of varying populations suffer from different degrees of the condition. Due to the irregular shape of one or both eyes, astigmatism causes vision to be blurry. People may find it harder to read light text against a dark background as a result.

It’s possible that you suffer from astigmatism and are completely unaware of it. Your optometrist could examine this, but it might also be the reason you don’t feel comfortable reading on your phone when dark mode is enabled.

It’s In Your Eyes

The best readability, and consequently the best comprehension and retention, is achieved with black text against a white background. Why? Because all visible spectrum wavelengths are reflected by the color white. More light can be absorbed without widening the iris.

The edges of light text appear to blend into the black background when viewed on a dark screen.

The pupil remains small when staring at a white screen because the iris does not widen, making it easier to maintain focus. You can focus on text that is white on a background with black contrast right away.

To let in more light when the environment is dark, your pupil must enlarge. The edges of light text appear to bleed into the black background when viewed on a dark screen. This is called the halation effect (via Make Tech Easier), and it reduces the ease of reading.

The eye is made of muscles, keep that in mind. It will wear out more quickly the more pressure you put on it when trying to read something. Don’t force it if you find it difficult to read light text against a dark background.

Brightburn

Do you recognize the sensation when someone opens the curtains to let in a ray of sunlight just as you’re drifting off to sleep in a dark room? Your iris hasn’t adapted to the amount of light it needs to take in at that precise moment, so you experience a sudden shock.

Your eyes become accustomed to letting in less light when you view things in dark mode for a long time, say a few months. As a result, you occasionally feel uncomfortable when looking at a bright screen.

My own experience informs this. I used dark mode across my phone, PC, and tablet for about three months. When I mentioned my growing aversion to bright screens to a surgeon friend, he said that this is a typical occurrence when our eyes become accustomed to dark mode.

Thank goodness, he assured me, that if I use white screens more frequently, this heightened sensitivity to brightness won’t last forever. Just finding the ideal balance is necessary.

Dark And Gloomy

The same Harvard paper that talks about the harmful effects of blue light also talks about an upside of exposure to the same. In daylight, blue wavelengths are advantageous because they help elevate mood, the paper argues.

Doctors at the American Academy of Ophthalmology also believe that a healthy exposure to blue light can maintain mental performance and decrease nearsightedness in children.

The idea that blue light from gadgets harms the eyes has not been proven scientifically.

While it might be advantageous to reduce screen glare at night when the surroundings are generally dark, it might not be good for you to turn off those pixels constantly.

There is also no scientific proof that blue light from devices causes damage to the eyes, nor is there enough research out there to show that dark mode makes you see better. In fact, according to research, less blinking rather than brightness is to blame for people’s discomfort after staring at screens for an extended period of time.

Everyone’s experience with dark mode is unique, in the end. A lot also depends on the ambient lighting situation in which you use your screen.

While using dark themes may be more appropriate at night, these features won’t necessarily improve your reading, protect your eyes from digital eye strain, or even help you save a lot of battery life. If you start experiencing vision problems or an increase in light sensitivity, you might also want to completely avoid using dark mode.

What Relevance Does Blue Light Have To This?

We must first take into account how blue light affects our eyes in order to comprehend whether dark mode has any positive effects on our health.

From our screen devices, blue light waves are released. However, the sun is the primary source of blue light, which enters our atmosphere and gives our sky its blue color.

These waves, which are more energetic than other colors of light, tell our brains that it is daytime.

You can imagine why excessive blue light exposure from screens might start to confuse your eyes, even though we’re only now beginning to understand the negative effects.

Some proponents of dark mode assert that doing so in the hours before bedtime makes it easier for them to get to sleep and stay asleep.

Theoretically, this is due to the fact that default screen settings subject you to more blue light after dusk, messing with your circadian rhythm and suppressing melatonin, the hormone that tells your body it’s time to go to sleep.

In a room with no lights on, dark mode might make it simpler to read. The decrease in blue light might ease any squinting or strain brought on by excessive brightness.

However, there is no proof or consensus among experts to support these anecdotes about blue light and eyes.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), the way we use our digital devices—and not necessarily the blue light that emanates from them—is what causes digital eye strain.

Are blue eyes a sign of inbreeding? It surprises me to say that the majority of Europeans with blue eyes seem to be fairly closely related.  The DNA of the individual can reveal this to scientists.

When Should I Go To The Doctor?

If you start to experience certain symptoms and preventative measures or at-home treatments aren’t helping, seek out expert medical assistance.

See an eye doctor if you begin to notice any of the following:

• significant eye strain or pain
• chronic dry eye
• frequent headaches or migraine attacks that don’t respond to over-the-counter medication
• obstructions in your vision
• signs of an eye infection

Final Words

Some people who spend a lot of time staring at screens may find that using dark mode helps to reduce eye fatigue and dry eye.

However, there isn’t any concrete evidence that dark mode does anything other than prolong the battery life of your device.

Giving dark mode a try is free and won’t harm your eyes. However, you should see your eye doctor to discuss additional treatment options if you still experience eye strain and dry eye symptoms.

I appreciate your reading.