7 votes

Do I not need to use blue light filter on my screens if I already have eyeglasses with Anti-Reflective coating?

Posted by cuteFox
Tags: ask.advice, technology, screens, night light, reading mode, filters

I mean the blue light filter that's built-in in most phones and computers. on Windows, it's called "Night Light" and on most android phones, it's called "Reading mode".

so my question is, do I need not that at all and if the glasses accomplish the same thing? or if they're completely different things. I don't even know if the Anti-Reflective coating provides any protection from blue light.

also I read that blue light can disrupt sleep but I don't really have any problems sleeping, even though I don't use the night light/reading mode

5 comments

  1. [2]
    Staross
    Link
    The sleeping part is mostly bullshit, so no you don't need to worry about it too much. That said getting some light early in the day is good for your circadian rhythm :...

    The sleeping part is mostly bullshit, so no you don't need to worry about it too much. That said getting some light early in the day is good for your circadian rhythm :

    "The more light that you get during the daytime, the less impact the light in the evening has," Zeitzer says. The pre-pandemic world exposed people to a lot more light than they realised. There's the Sun during a commute, the piercing fluorescent bulbs of an office, a walk to lunch. Now, so many of us roll out of bed and sit under the same lighting conditions until we go to sleep. Our bodies can't tell the difference between day and night.

    Leaving the house will fix that faster than any lamp. Even on a grey overcast day, Zeitzer says you're probably getting around 10,000 lux (the measure of light intensity). A bright sunny day can hit 100,000 lux. By comparison, your living room it's probably around 100 lux. (And your phone tops out around a measly 50-80 lux, Zeitzer says, and it's less when you have the brightness down.)

    "Go outside if you can, use the lamp if you have to," says Kallestad. Even a 30-minute walk in the morning makes a real difference (just don't forget sunscreen). And if you can get outside again after 15:00, Zeitzer says that's also surprisingly useful. It further anchors your body clock and directly reduces how sensitive you are to light in the evening.

    https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260407-the-blue-light-from-your-phone-isnt-ruining-your-sleep

    17 votes
    1. creesch
      Link Parent
      Last year I invested a bunch in somewhat excessive lighting near my desk. I do work mostly from home. Certainly in the winter period I had noticed that mentally waking up took more effort on dark...

      Last year I invested a bunch in somewhat excessive lighting near my desk. I do work mostly from home. Certainly in the winter period I had noticed that mentally waking up took more effort on dark days. Where in summer the room is dark because it faces the sun so everything is closed of resulting in a similar issue.

      In the evening I do make it a point to turn a bunch of lights off and do use a warmer color on my computer display. Not really because I think it helps with melatonine production. It is more for the same reasons I make sure to get up after work and do something else first before I do hobby computing. It helps signaling my brain that we are entering a different part of the day.

      It is anecdotal evidence of course but I do feel this combination has helped a lot. Both with the feeling of not being awake but also with a slightly better sleeping schedule.

      I did try to get good quality lights (high cri value and all that) and made an effort to have it be a variety of sources and indirect light instead of a spotlight effect. I did also try different light colors so that the light during the day would be closer to sunlight (fairly cold color temperature) but that didn't really work well for me.

      3 votes
  2. DefinitelyNotAFae
    Link
    Afaik the anti reflective coating is entirely different from being a "Blue Blocker" style lens. It more reduces glare and keeps the light from bouncing off your glasses anime character style....

    Afaik the anti reflective coating is entirely different from being a "Blue Blocker" style lens. It more reduces glare and keeps the light from bouncing off your glasses anime character style.

    Whether you need it or not is a separate issue I can't answer.

    10 votes
  3. TaylorSwiftsPickles
    Link
    Well, can you still see blue through your glasses?

    Well, can you still see blue through your glasses?

    5 votes
  4. myrrh
    (edited )
    Link
    ...my eyeglass providers offer two types of coatings: antireflective and blue-violet filtering...the former has no significant effect on blue light but you can recognise the latter (even with the...

    ...my eyeglass providers offer two types of coatings: antireflective and blue-violet filtering...the former has no significant effect on blue light but you can recognise the latter (even with the 'clear' option) by a subtle warm color-shift when holding the lens over bright white paper...

    ...as for whether they affect circadian rhythm to the same extent as display night mode, i'd venture not; the lens manufacturers claim only a 20% reduction in circadian blue light, which is a pretty negligible difference even presuming that the lenses wrap around your entire field of peripheral vision, which is itself unlikely...

    2 votes