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  • Severe Brain Fog from Using Electronics - Seeking Help

evthelegend

Since there is not enough information about your symptoms, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause, but I think it may be light.

As far as I know, there are significant racial differences in light problems.

As an example, people with pale eyes who live at high latitudes prefer low light such as indirect lighting, while people who live near the equator can tolerate high illuminance environments.

As for why light causes a decrease in concentration and headaches, I suspect that it may be unbearable noise that you are not aware of.

It is difficult to concentrate while listening to unpleasant sounds at high volume.

If loud sounds are played all day, your pulse may speed up due to stress, or you may become dizzy due to fatigue from the stimulation.

This is not limited to sounds that you can hear (recognize).

Many people lose the ability to hear high-frequency sounds called mosquito sounds at around the age of 20-30 due to aging.

However, even if you cannot recognize them as sound, your sensory organs may perceive them as a vague sense of discomfort, and they are known to cause nausea and headaches.

Just now, there was an incident in Japan where a mosquito horn was used to harass a neighbor, so we will introduce it below.

The key point is that some people can hear the horn even at high volume and some cannot, and some people experience symptoms even if they can't hear it and some don't.

Please use a translation service to read this article.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/b9111e36d26d2790a67b74386b9e9008015fd671

This is an example of hearing, but if the symptoms you're experiencing are similar, I suspect you may have a similar issue with light.

We still don't know if light is the cause, but if it is, the solution is to avoid unpleasant light and use light that is comfortable.

The optimal light varies from person to person, so your own experience with light can help you find the light that's right for you.

Even with the same light, is it possible that sunlight has no problems but LED causes symptoms?

Regarding the colour of LEDs, do you dislike perfect white and prefer a yellow-white colour?

    If the cause is light, it is difficult to take measures using the same device, since it is difficult to replace the light source.

    The solution is to use a device with different light-emitting characteristics.

    Anesthesiologist Regarding the colour of LEDs, do you dislike perfect white and prefer a yellow-white colour?

    I prefer warm lightbulbs for room lighting (both for incandescent and LEDs) and hate "daylight" cold temperature lightbulbs.

    BUT… in the case of color LCD screens, I actually heavily prefer bluish whites, and consistently dislike LCDs that have a yellow tint

      Even if light is the cause, light has multiple elements, so it is necessary to respond according to the elements.

      The most common elements are as follows:

      1. Brightness (amount of energy)

      2. Wavelength/color

      3. Convergence/diffusion

      4. Problems such as flicker caused by dimming technology

      More information is needed to make a proper diagnosis.

      DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs thank you for the reply,

      I purchased a m3 air recently in hopes that it might be okay and it does feel slightly better than my phone but I think I am going to have to end up buying an older device too.

      I have a few 2010-2015 laptops that my parents owned will give those a try, but it is very disappointing considering these new devices are literally 100x faster and better in every way.

      do you know what specifically to look for? or is just random in terms of what works.

        Anesthesiologist

        the only source of light that gives me symptoms is anything from screens and the only screens I have ever really used in my life have all been LED.

        no other light source has given me any symptoms.

        regarding the color I do not have a preference as different tints don't change anything.

        also have a strong sense of overstimulation and irritability, will try to test the 4 issues you mention to see if I will be able to find a conclusion.

        LED light is very troublesome because it contains all four of the above elements.

        If it's a laptop from the 2010s, it's likely to be LED.

        Backlights that are not LED, such as CCFL, were around 2005 and are difficult to obtain.

        You are 18 years old, so the fact that you have suffered from this problem since childhood may be because you were already surrounded by LED products at that age.

        You can confirm that the symptoms do not exist on calculators that do not have LED backlights.

        One of the reasons for the change from CCFL to LED is the pursuit of beautiful color development.

        A beautiful display requires high brightness, and dimming by flickering is used to improve the light concentration to prevent the display from bleeding (among other factors) and to achieve accurate color development.

        It is technically possible to make LEDs that improve all of these elements, but they can make the beauty false, and there is no general demand for them, so they are rarely used in computers.

        There are some products for gaming displays that improve some elements to improve recognition speed in competitions, but other elements tend to deteriorate because beauty is also pursued in games.

        Although they are expensive, I recommend non-luminous RLCD or E-ink devices as a light countermeasure.

        If you are considering purchasing one of these devices, be sure to see the actual product.

        It is highly likely that light is the cause of your symptoms.

        However, there is a lack of information about your symptoms, and I have not been able to conduct tests to confirm this, so there may be other causes.

        In addition, these products are less aesthetically pleasing.

        With current technology, it is difficult to achieve both a beautiful display and reduced eye strain.

        I recommend that you make sure that they are effective for your symptoms and intended use before purchasing.

          evthelegend I purchased a m3 air recently in hopes that it might be okay and it does feel slightly better than my phone but I think I am going to have to end up buying an older device too.

          Yeah M3 air is not a good idea, I can't even use the M1 air or a 2018 Air for that long lol.

          The issue with modern Apple devices (and a surprisingly large amount of Windows laptops/Android devices too) is how many layers of post-processing are added to the internal display, it's like all of the edge enhancement and adaptive contrast settings on modern TVs but even worse because you don't even have a way to turn at least a few image enhancement settings off.

          For example, the feeling that large UI elements are floating in front of the screen in a 3D way, it's created by extra red and blue chromatic aberrations at object edges + very subtle white halos, that try to simulate the way your eyes focus, you don't realize how intense this effect is on Apple devices until you find a good screen and realize how flat it feels. Or when there's multiple repeating large objects on a page, and it feels like you can only bring one into "tunnel vision" focus but the other 2 are blurrier or you have to move your eyes to process the whole page or menu. On the other hand, on a good screen, it feels like you can essentially see everything on the screen at the same time. And, when I go back to a bad screen, all of the "anomalies" to the colors and shading is so visible to me now — those devices feel the exact same as they used to for me though, it's just way more obvious to me why those screens sucked.


          IMO here's what you should do:

          If you want something ASAP that works out-of-the-box and gives you a total reset of "what a screen can feel like", if you're able to, get an e-ink tablet before you start your device search.

          I highly recommend Boox Palma because the price point is reasonable, the touch screen is more responsive than others especially for typing on the virtual keyboard (I'm typing this post from it now at the same speed I would on a phone, no typos!!), and because it's pocketable you can find a ton of interesting use cases for it — instead of only being able to use a larger tablet in certain postures/locations.

          E-ink is not perfect, but trying e-ink is what finally gave me an idea of what types of visual patterns and information density I was totally not seeing at all in my bad devices… I started to figure out the precise things I needed in a good screen. Later, I found that one specific 2012 laptop which convinced me that a good backlit LCD is possible, and I finally feel like I'm in charge of my life again, and can comfortably get work done whenever I want. Now I need to find other good devices.

          So, after e-ink, then try to find a really old device that doesn't cause symptoms. (It's not just any old device, you still have to search) that lets you get a solid idea of a what a good backlit color screen feels like for you. Then, you can use a remote desktop app on that old device to be able to access a modern computer through it, so you're at least finally able to concentrate and work the way you want. This is currently what I'm doing for 7 months now, and I'm more productive than I've EVER been in my life.

          Now, the hard part, work up from there, and try out slightly newer and newer while keeping that idea of what a "good screen" feels like in mind. You might have to get creative, for example swapping a ton of different LCD panels into a laptop that has a user-replaceable screen. But in the meantime, you'll at least have something you can be productive on, and are still able to access present-day performance & apps by "using modern computers through the screen of an old one".

          By the way, I'm 22 years old, so compared to the generally older demographic of this forum I'm also able to provide some unique perspectives

            DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs
            Colors that put less strain on the eyes rarely change depending on the situation, but we recognize that the color of lighting that is easy to see tends to vary depending on the object.

            When reading or looking at small details, even people with weak eyes often prefer pure white light.

            We believe that this is because pure white light has a higher contrast, making it easier to recognize and read.

            On the other hand, when precision is not required, such as when understanding the surrounding environment, we recognize a tendency to prefer a yellow-white light that puts less strain on the eyes.

            There are other factors as well, such as color performance, but these are different factors from eye strain and will be excluded here.

            Easy to see (easy to identify) and light that puts less strain on the eyes are different, so there are seemingly contradictory situations where something is easy to read but also tires the eyes.

              Anesthesiologist Pseudo 3D displays and pseudo color displays give people a sense of discomfort when it comes to recognition.

              A characteristic of this is that the symptoms are limited to specific models or operating systems that have the technology installed.

              Also, in addition to the pseudo display features sometimes being caused by an OS version, OS display driver, or GPU hardware — there are other cases where these features are implemented within the LCD panel itself, such as in the TCON (timing controller) or LCD controller board.

              This means that even a RLCD connected to a "safe" GPU can still cause issues, if the RLCD just used a generic controller circuit without thinking about what it would modify or try to "enhance" in the video signal before it reaches the physical pixels.

              For example, Innolux (a LCD manufacturer that I have many issues with, across any device that uses their displays), that company has a patent that confirms that they do this:

              "The timing control and video output unit includes an image edge enhancement circuit configured for sharpening at least one edge of an image shown by the liquid crystal display, and a converter. The image edge enhancement circuit includes a color adjusting unit and a brightness comparison unit."

              DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

              Thank you so much for the suggestions! It’s really comforting to know you're 22—almost the same age as me.

              I’m going to try a e-ink device and hope it can finally put an end to the fog that’s been plaguing my life.

              I can only imagine what my life would be like if I could look at a screen and think normally, Im even having trouble typing this out right now lol

              You seem incredibly knowledgeable on this topic, so I was curious if you’ve looked into any potential solutions specifically for the eyes, rather than just focusing on the screen fix?

              Anesthesiologist

              I am going to purchase an E-ink device and see how I react.

              I hope you are right, this could change my life magnitudes

              You seem incredibly knowledgeable on this topic, so I was curious if you’ve looked into any potential solutions specifically for the eyes, rather than just focusing on the screen fix?

              I understand it could be a number of things, and that you have very limited info.

              evthelegend static they look like paper but as soon as you start scrolling or refreshing the screen due to it being eink it'll have a flickery/laggy appearance. The boox Palma isn't terrible for eink.

              There is no perfect display with current technology, and all products have some problems.

              When e-ink displays are used without a backlight, there is no light problem like with books.

              However, as DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs and jordan say, e-ink is not a perfect product either.

              The problem with e-ink is not the light.

              The main problem is the discomfort caused by the slow display speed.

              This is caused by afterimages when rewriting images and flickering of the image.

              For this reason, it is recommended to use e-ink mainly for still images, such as reading e-books, where the screen only rewrites when switching pages.

              (This is also the reason why video use is limited on Amazon's Kindle)

              This problem is more noticeable when there is screen movement, such as videos or scrolling in a browser.

              When scrolling on HP, closing your eyes or looking away from the screen is a solution to the problem.

              You may be disappointed that there is no perfect product.

              However, the important point is that these problems are highly dependent on individual differences, so they may not occur.

              The key to choosing is to try the product and see if the symptoms occur.

              It is not possible to try all displays.

              That's why it's important to try products in different categories, such as e-ink and RLCD.

              The problem with e-ink is caused by its slow image display.

              The technology to solve this problem is RLCD, which has a display speed equivalent to that of a general display.

              RLCD also has problems such as poor color reproduction and a dark screen, but the biggest problem is that the panels are very difficult to obtain and very expensive.

              dev