Indeed. But I'd describe it as modern LCDs have a default brightness that it likely too bright for most uses.
Manufacturers likely set this so that the colours 'pop' when being demoed (the same reason they sell/create/display glossy monitors, because they demo well).
Taking the brightness down almost never impacts usability, but I've found can significantly affect eye strain (that 'OMG, my eyeballs are hurting' feeling).
I totally agree with this. I usually turn my monitor brightness down to the lowest setting (my work monitor has been set this way for years). I've done the A/B testing on myself and find that I will develop something like a mild headache (probably eye strain) after a day of working at the default brightness. On my old LCD monitor the brightness would reset if power got disconnected so I did the experiment several times accidentally. My current monitor (Dell U3014) remembers the setting across power resets. I have my brightness control set to zero. It looks dim at first but after a few minutes it looks completely normal and you forget about it.
>(the same reason they sell/create/display glossy monitors, because they demo well).
They create very few of them. The few they do create are because some of us want monitors that are not intentionally blurry. I am capable of controlling the lighting in my environment. I do not want my monitor to deliberately make everything fuzzy just to avoid a glare problem I don't have.
Re:Exercising for Healthier Eyes
by ColonelPanic001 on Thursday March 27, 2014 @02:24PM
(#7482268)
Similar here - my cube is as dark as I can get it (which really just means the lights directly overhead are off), and my monitors are at the minimum brightness setting. My screens glow, guys. I don't need to light them up externally.
Any reference on working with lights on vs off? I've seen 1 or 2 people do that in office. I've been told that lack of ambient light might cause more strain. Is there any study supporting what you've said?
Re:Exercising for Healthier Eyes
by ColonelPanic001 on Friday April 04, 2014 @09:56AM
(#7531401)
Only my own anecdotal study here. It's not total darkness, because I'm in a well-windowed cube farm (along a far wall that has no windows, though), so there's still a bit of ambient light.
I'm not sure what combination of this list of things does the most good, but I rarely get eyestrain and I look at screens for 12+ hours per day.
Not sure if this matters, but I had LASIK surgery 7 years ago and ever since my eyes have been pretty sensitive to light (night vision FTW), so this is something I've been working on for a while now.
Edit: I am 40 years old, and have been looking at screens for long hours at least 10-15 years now.