Monitors and Health

DrLiamDrLiam British Columbia
edited December 2008 in Hardware
First off, this is going to sound a little messy because I don't know what I'm talking about exactly. I just have a ball park.

What I'm looking for is a site that compares a monitor's potential eye damaging power. Knowing what hurts the eyes might be a helpful tip and I will try and look further into it than I have already but someone here knowing would be a lot more desirable.

I am referring mainly to LED, LCD, TFT, and any current main stream flat monitors. CRTs I have a handle on. :]

Thanks in advance,
Liam

P.S.- If I find the answer somewhere myself I will post it here for others to see for general interest.

Comments

  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited December 2008
    I don't Know of any sites as such but my thought (and they are just that) are that the actual emisions from a monitor are not harmful themselves at all. In order to produce a moving image your monitor displays a series of still pictures and your brian fills in the gaps between the still images. Therefore looking at moving pictures on a monitor for a long time can cause tiredness as your brain has a lot of computing to do.

    This effect can be reduced by looking at the refresh rate of a monitor. If the gap between the still images is less (Higher refresh rate) then the brain has less to do so it is easier to view for longer periods. It is also my belief that higher screen resolution and colour depth also make it easier on the eye.

    With this in mind I believe you may also need to look into GPU output. You may have the worlds best monitor but if you run a poor graphics signal into it the you have removed all the potential that your monitor has. The configuration of the two will also play a part.

    I think you are far mor likely to suffer health problems from having the physical positioning of the moitor, your chair and desk resulting in poor posture and back and neck problems.

    Some interesting links I found from google
    http://www.healthycomputing.com/office/setup/monitor/
    http://lifehacker.com/software/monitors/avoid-computer-eye-strain-149003.php
    http://www.allaboutvision.com/cvs/irritated.htm
    http://www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk/healthandsafety
  • BetsyDBetsyD Cincinnati, OH Icrontian
    edited December 2008
    I would also be interested in knowing of any sites about monitors vs health effects. My dermatologist was able to tell immediately that I have a computer job without me telling her. She said that everyone who works in front of a computer all day has a certain look to their skin. So there has to be something to it...
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited December 2008
    BetsyD wrote:
    She said that everyone who works in front of a computer all day has a certain look to their skin. So there has to be something to it...

    This may not be because of the computer though. Most people who work in an office probably have similar lifstyle and diets and fondness for coffee etc. I know that is a generalisation but I am just saying that it may not be the Monitor that causes the problem. I may be wrong though.

    My understading of how LCD displays work is that it is a light source behind a liquid crystal layer. when a current is applied to the pixel it changes its transparencey to let certain light frequenies through... Or something like that therefore it would be no worse than being sat near a light source for a long period of time.

    ... I am still interested to hear the other side though :)
  • BetsyDBetsyD Cincinnati, OH Icrontian
    edited December 2008
    RichD wrote:
    This may not be because of the computer though. Most people who work in an office probably have similar lifstyle and diets and fondness for coffee etc. I know that is a generalisation but I am just saying that it may not be the Monitor that causes the problem. I may be wrong though.

    ...

    I just thought it was interesting because she specified "in front of computers all day" not "office people" and while I know a lot of times now-a-days the two go hand in hand it just suprised me...

    I don't know about diets/coffee... I tend to eat pretty healthy compared to most of the people I work with going out to eat every day and I like a little coffee with my milk and sugar when I do drink coffee :bigggrin: which isn't frequent
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited December 2008
    Sorry, I wasn't saying it wasn't the case but more that there could be something else that is common that could cause the problem.

    If I was to be really cinical I could say that most jobs these days involve a computer and that by asking do you work with computers more often than not he/she would be right and would appear to be more knowledgable...:eek:

    However, I am no deritoligist am to be honest when it comes to skin care my morning wash in the shower is a bout as far as I go so I would be out of my depth on any discussion about it.

    I am quite intrested by the idea that working with a computer could cause skin problems though. Could you perhaps ask him/her about it next time you see them and let us know?
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