[olug] eye strain

[Eric Pierce]

Thanks everybody who has replied!

I've read everyone's advice, and I began making some changes today at work. 
I've set a reoccuring alarm to go off every hour so I'm reminded to take a few
minutes break for my eyes.  I also made sure I didn't have any glare on the
screen this morning (I didn't see any).

We have parabolic light fixtures at work, so cuts down on extraneous light.

I also read that your monitor should be 7-10 inches below your line of sight,
so I pumped my chair up Jetson style today.

I found several "eye strain" articles by Googling -- some of that stuff above
is from those articles.  I've some more reading to do...

I haven't bought an LCD monitor yet, so another quick question:
Which would you buy?
#1 Mitsubishi 15" LCD - $250
#2 SVA (www.sva-usa.com) 15" LCD - $230
#3 Kogi (www.4kogi.com) 14.1" LCD - $150

And why?

Thanks again,
Eric Pierce

--- Dave Burchell <burchell at inebraska.com> wrote:
> Eric Pierce says:
> > 
> > Hey all,
> > 
> > I wanted to know how everyone deals (or doesn't deal) with eye strain.
> > 
> > I took my first full time computer job in January this year, and the long
> hours
> > spent in front of the computer has been taking its toll on my eys for some
> > time.
> 
> I don't know what your work environment is like, but IMHO most offices
> are over illuminated.  (Or perhaps they are illuminated to a
> decades-old standard from when office workers processed papers and
> typed on typewriters.)  If you visit a control room (such as at DTN or
> IP Revolution) or a serious coders' shop (such as MicroImages or the
> graduate student computer lab in the basement of Ferguson Hall at UNL
> years ago) you will find low levels of light, and only indirect light.
> 
> First, try making sure no light falls directly on your screen.  You
> might be able to simply rearrange your desk so there is no light
> fixture directly above, but in most offices the light fixtures are too
> closely spaced for that to work.
> 
> My eye strain fell drastically when I turned out the fluorescent lights
> above my desk.  At my next job there was no switch for just my office,
> so I actually removed all of the tubes from the light fixture.  In
> those cases and my most recent job my office had windows, so I had
> plenty of light complements the flaming orb 93 million miles away.
> Most recently, I bought an ugly table lamp and put it on my desk for
> cloudy days.
> 
> Be warned, you may catch some flak from your boss if he/she is a
> non-technical person.  Anyone who spends most of their time reading the
> paper, talking on the phone, or holding meetings will find no eye
> strain problems with the typical office's level of light, and could
> label you a freak for your preference.  (In my experience, they will
> also take exception if you wear Birkenstocks with socks, but as long as
> Linus does it I don't give a damn what the marketing department might
> say.)
> 
> BTW, I'm not sure why, but eye strain did not seem to be a problem for
> me before about age 27.
> 
> -- 
> Dave Burchell                                          40.49'N, 96.41'W
> Free your mind and your software will follow.              402-467-1619
> http://incolor.inetnebr.com/burchell/                  burchell at acm.org     
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