2 months later

Hello,
I would like to introduce myself to the community. I am based in Europe and I bought a 2017 5K 27” iMac some time ago. After a few months of light usage, last week I attempted to spend an entire day using it and for the first time I had my eyes completely dry and strained, headache and a feeling of warmth caused by the computer. Very unpleasant feeling, like motion sickness. Using night mode, minimum brightness, bigger font and low level of natural light in the room things are better because I do not have motion sickness anymore, but still the screen doesn’t feel right and I feel “confused” shall we say every time after using it. I decided to reduce usage of the iMac to the bare minimum. I researched this thing a bit and I stumbled upon the mega-thread in the Apple forum, which then led me here. I’m glad this forum exists!
I’m going to provide some background considerations on my health in the dedicated thread, and then I’m going to open two threads with my personal observations using computers and using TVs. Hoping that all of that can be useful to someone.
In the meantime some general considerations I had since that terrible experience with the iMac: first off, it’s reassuring not to be alone in the process of making sense of all of this and getting some attention from the manufacturers (by the way I am no expert and until last week I didn’t know anything of all of this); then, it’s sad to take note of how little is known about the issues we are experiencing in the broader medical community and (at least publicly) within the manufacturers; finally, I am now somewhat scared of this push for constant and fast progress in IT, discontinuing at the time previous technologies that were working perfectly, because this has led to problems for users that were perfectly fine before (let’s say whatever is causing problems was below the threshold) and these problems do not appear to be taken seriously by the manufacturers.

    erwin

    Hey,
    thansk for your input in this forum.
    May you tell me where are you from exactly ?

      erwin

      1. Do you use any smartphones that do not cause you strain?
      2. Have you ever used Windows laptops/computer and have they caused you issues?
      3. Have you ever had a comprehensive vision exam done where they checked for convergence issues and eye teaming? This is not done in a typical annual eye examination where they will declare you have 20/20 vision or give you glasses/contacts.
      4. Any medical history you're willing to share?
        3 months later
        Slacor stickied the discussion .
        16 days later

        Hi. I'm new to this forum, but I'm interested in understanding it all more, and helping out if I can.

        I'm 37, work as a patent attorney and live in Australia. I have had strange symptoms like ongoing dizziness, sweating, numbness and strange burning sensations a lot over the last 2 years. With monitors, the white background seems unstable and the text shimmers. I also see flashing between lines of text.

        I had been attributing it to the aftereffects of glandular fever (mono), but I recently noticed a strong correlation between computer use and being sick, so it may have been due to a change of phone around that time.

        I am more affected by my Galaxy S7 and Asus UX32VD, both of which have easily detectable PWM.

        I have tried the PWM free firmware for the Galaxy S7, but it still makes me sick quite quickly. I have a little more tolerance for my Dell 2209wa monitor, but it still isn't relaxing. My Dell work monitor is better (not sure of the model), but not perfect. This may be because I am a bit sensitive to the old fluorescent lights that are used in the office. I recently got out my old HTC One m7 (with cracked screen) and the text is more stable on it but it still makes me sick, I noticed that the backlight has an uncomfortable bluey tinge on whites and there's no colour temperature or profile settings that I could see in Android 5.

        My only real comfort is with the Boox Max 2 (e-ink) which I got recently to give me a chance to concentrate long enough to research more and arrive here!

          noigmn The reason the phone S7 makes you sick even with the flicker free firmware is most likely dithering and possibly blue light. I forget if phones are using WRGB OLED. This means high levels of white light passing through colour filters. Two phones in my life so far have worked for me. Samsung S2 and Yotaphone 2.

          • KM replied to this.

            jasonpicard Normally AMOLED phones don't use color filters nor white LEDs. That technology seems to be mostly used in LG's OLED TV panels and maybe a few other displays but not smartphones.

            I am a 35 years old guy from India and university graduate.

            A few years back I was badly affected by digital eye strain, since then I developed my interest in related articles & products. Found LEDStrain website by googling about eye strain and have justed created my account here.

            • JTL replied to this.
              9 days later

              PEOPLE WHO ARE LIKE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am 42 and in Illinois. Pretty much ever since the flat screen televisions have come out I have had a problem. My tv now is still an old Hitachi "normal" tv. I am terrified of the day it dies on me. Monitor wise I use an old acer v173 which has to be over 10 years old now lol But it doesn't bother me, whether I game for hours or watch movies on it, but I also do not need the latest and greatest in color and graphics or HD so..but it works =)

              Otherwise ya, I go to visit family and the television is always on and I cannot look at it. I get motion sickness, especially there is an effect where the camera "slides" for lack of a better term, and the whole room will suddenly spin. If I look at it too long, the headaches begin. And so while everyone is watching tv I am staring at the floor. I am basically told that I will have to get "used to it" or that other people in the room "don't have that problem" so apparently there is just something wrong with me?? I don't know. But no...here are all of you as well!

              Oh and I did try getting my own flatscreen tv about a year or so ago. A tcl something or other? Some evil thing that is stored in the closet because of all of the above reasons. Headache, nausea, even my ears were like what is this? Because apparently with all the technological improvements for televisions, speaker quality is not one of them?

              So nice to meet all of you and looking forward to going through the topics and seeing what you have found works and doesn't work for you. Thanks for reading =)

                gracie Thanks for joining. Are you using a smartphone without issues (if so, what)?

                Have you had your binocular vision checked by an optometrist? This is usually not checked for unless you specifically ask and the exam takes at least 1 hour if not more. The standard 15 minute exam will not catch any issues with binocular vision. @martin has a theory that some new modern tech disrupts binocular vision causing some of these symptoms; there are several reports of people on here that vision therapy, the treatment for binocular vision issues, have helped.

                  ryans Thank you!

                  I have a smartphone, Samsung Galaxy J7. However I do not use it very often throughout the day, but it has not bothered my eyes. My Galaxy S3 prior to this was not an issue either.

                  For eyes, I do not wear glasses and had an eye exam maybe 15 or so years ago due to migraines. All I recall that was a bit different that was said was I have above average range in my peripheral viewing. The migraines it would turn out were from the fluorescent lights in the office I was in. I forgot to add that above. I cannot do LED light bulbs and most CFL bulbs either. I have a hoarder's stockpile of incandescent lights lol 60, 75 and 100 watts. I have at times had to even pull over and let cars pass me that have the sort of "blue" headlights giving me issue when I drive. Not often mind you, but still.

                  Oh and my issue with flat screens (tv and monitors) at the start I do not think were with the lighting so much as they were all concave looking to me and drove me crazy. This old monitor I have was the first one I found that didn't do that effect. And because it and my old tv are still working, I haven't felt pressed to have to update. But it kind of sucks to not be able to if I want to either =/

                    JTL Yes sorry was like what is the term...you know the type we had back in the day before this fancy flat stuff =D

                    • JTL replied to this.
                      a month later

                      Hi. I'm Kristen. I'm in Orange County, CA. I'm a writer, which means I'm on the computer all the time. That's how I really discovered the problem. I cannot look at LED monitors for any length of time without nausea. I've also gotten migraines in situations where I've had to be looking straight at LED lights (like looking into stage lighting) and I get really irritable and tired in rooms lit by LED exclusively.

                      dev