async as I have a feeling that constantly seeing the same interface elements at different sizes can mess up accomodation
this is mostly true, on most screens I deal with this issue, it can also affect how you focus on real-life objects after using the screen too
BUTā¦ in my experience, it seems to be VERY connected to the issue with the false 3D effect which frusturatingly affects so many screens (even as far back as the 2000s, I still feel that effect + see super obvious "forced oversharpening" white halos on a NEC CCFL TN from 2005 connected to a "safe" PC outputting 16bppā¦)
the reason why I know this is that on my single truly "safe" screen, LG LP133WD2-SLB1 on IdeaPad Yoga 13, I can set the UI zoom level to any size I want, even super huge, and the distance I focus remains essentially the same. the UI elements focus just as easily.
for example, i can set this page to max zoom, and it's still easy to jump between the massive web page text and regular-sized taskbar without strain.
however, this laptop is the ONLY backlit screen that I can do this on.
the only other screens that work like this for me are e-ink ā but this laptop panel is a WLED-backlit IPS (that even has some mild PWM and pixel inversion!) yet somehow feels entirely different from ANY other IPS/TN/VA/OLED I've used ā including a few other LG IPS I've tried
on every other backlit screen so far, even a few that I deem "usable" or "mostly flat", the moment I increase the size or a large icon appearsā¦ I can feel pressure on the eyes changing and a feeling of "increasing closeness" or having to "learn to focus differently" on different-sized elements, like you are saying. but not on the Yoga 13
TLDR: yep this 100% affects lots of screens, but I have "living evidence" that it's actually possible for at least one backlit screen to not have this issue.
i wish i knew why. my only theory is that I see very little "post-processing / colors bleeding into nearby pixels / additional edge enhancement" compared to what I notice in others