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  • A solution at last, hope it lasts!

Hi all, I've had problems with screens off and on for a few decades but the last couple of years I've been on a full-on and obsessive mission to find a solution and have looked into PWM and other stuff too since I am also sensitive to non-pwm screens on phones, tablets, laptops, and monitors. My reactions vary with devices and other factors too and include anxiety, tension, headaches, itchy-eyes, sticky-eyes, brain-fog and even the triggering/aggravation of my psoriasis. This forum has helped in my investigations, thanks.

About a week ago I had the idea of trying out limiting my peripipheral vision and tried first using a pair of swimming goggles (which were uncomfortable) under my reading glasses, and then just some masking tape on the sides and top of the glasses. Later I found that I needed the tape only on the sides/arms, about an inch wide near the lenses and tapering towards my ears.

The amazing result was that my symptoms significantly reduced and I could finally use some of the numerous devices I've acquired (mostly second hand) on my mission, like the Surface Go I'm typing this on, which was particularly bad. It takes a bit of getting used to having blinkers on but I seem to be getting more comfortable with them and, surprisingly, also seem to be more tolerant to some screens even with them off. I'm still (excitedly!) checking this out and would like to hear about the experience of other screen-sensitive peeps with this approach. All the best!

    So your current setup is your glasses (what Rx) with tape around the glasses? Do you mind posting an image?

    Congrats on finding a solution that works for you.

      ryans I replaced the tape with a piece of cardboard(?) to make it easier to take the "blinkers" off and put them on again when I feel like, and my glasses are right and left: around -4 and -5 (don't remember exactly). Hope the link to the pic works: Pic of blinkers on glasses

        Deepdeep It says Access Denied. Maybe try uploading to imgur.com or this forum directly?

          Deepdeep Interesting, thanks for sharing. So what you are saying is that it is not the screen or the OS or the graphics card etc., but the light that comes from the sides that bothers you? Do your glasses have any blue light filter or tint? What is the lighting in your setup, incandescent, fluorescent, LED? How do you go with lighting in general, when you are not using an electronic device? Any symptom from bare exposure to light?

            AGI no, I am sensitive to screens - pwm affects me (to varying degrees) on some screens but not on others and some screens without any pwm also affect me. Blocking my peripheral vision I find makes me less sensitive to some screens, like the Surface Go which I was very sensitive to but can use fairly comfortably with the blinkers on. But it doesn't seem to work as well on others like the Tab S7 FE. Still testing/investigating.

            I think my glasses have some blue light filtering coatings, if I remember right, but I don't think blue light is a big trigger for me from tests I've done making the screen colour warmer via software or using sunglasses (which did somewhat reduce symptoms on an iPad but not so much on some other devices). I seem to have some sensitivity to the flicker in LED room lighting but I don't think it accounts for the stronger reactions I experience with device screens - I've experimented with natural light, changing my room lighting to flicker-free leds, incandescent, etc. Natural light when I'm not using a device doesn't seem to be a problem at all, and artificial room lighting on it's own doesn't cause strong reactions though it might contribute to some mild anxiety or "change of experiential state" - I've got a very sensitive body with sensitivities also to scents (eg soap/shampoo/perfume), wheat (cognitive and mood effects), pollen, mold etc (asthma) …. + + !!!

            • mike replied to this.
            • AGI likes this.

              It may be a thing that the peripheral vision is better at detecting motion. I remember long ago, when I did not know anything about flicker, that I used to get very close to the screen and watch a grey backgound and detect into the very edges of the visual field what I thought it was the refresh rate (now I know it was PWM)

                Alyosha2001 Right, and some of us might have "peripheral vision sensors/receptors"(?) that are more sensitive than those in others.

                This is interesting, I am glad it works for you. It seems somewhat similar in spirit to "binasal occlusion" which is used in vision therapy:

                  TBI was a big thing several years ago with football players, a couple of movies etc. surely we can get a doctor/ researcher to adopt us.

                  mike I read about it here and meant to get one of those eye patches that you can stick on to glasses and give it a try but didn't get around to it.

                    Deepdeep Just put a bit of paper on a pair of glasses and try it. For me it was a game changer.

                      mike Nice to hear that it worked so well for you. I'll give it a go after I've messed around with the blinker approach with some other devices to see what it works for and doesn't work for … tricky stuff this!

                      ryans Thanks … I think I'll try these out just when friends finally stop talking about my blinkin blinkers!

                      dev