For as long as I can remember, I’ve experienced severe brain fog whenever I use electronic devices. I’m usually fine for about five minutes, but then it’s like a switch flips—I start feeling like a complete zombie. My awareness and focus drop drastically, and I get this overwhelming sense of just being out of it . It’s almost as if I’m not even there, and the longer I use the device, the worse it gets. My friends often make fun of me after I’ve been on electronics because I become really spacey and slow. It feels like my brain has to work ten times harder just to process simple thoughts. On top of that, I get slightly dizzy, my brain feels hot and like it’s pulsing (I know that sounds crazy), and my face flushes red. I’m so jealous of people who can spend all day on a computer and feel totally normal. My symptoms are so severe that I physically can’t read a book or hold a conversation because I become incredibly slow and spacey. Even after I stop using the device, these symptoms can take hours—sometimes even days—to fade away. This has been devastating for my life because, as we all know, electronics are essential for nearly everything these days, and avoiding them just isn’t an option. I feel like I’m stuck in a fog all the time because of these devices, and I don’t know what to do. It’s really taking a toll on my quality of life. Has anyone else experienced something similar? Any advice on how to cope with this would be greatly appreciated. My life is falling apart because once I use a device, I essentially become useless for any other important tasks due to the severity of the fog. I eat very clean, work out, and I’m only 18—so I shouldn’t be dealing with brain fog, but here I am. I’m at a loss for what to do. Any suggestions would be a lifesaver.

evthelegend I'm dealing with the exact same thing man. haven't found a perfect device yet. iPhones by far cause all of that the worst for me. Have you had any neck injuries ? Just curious. Im 25 been dealing with this since 2020.

That's a very difficult situation. You say you're worried about symptoms caused by electronic devices, but could you give some examples of devices that cause symptoms and some that don't? The symptoms you've described seem to be symptoms of brain fatigue caused by continuous sensory stimulation. This symptom occurs not only visually, but also auditory (such as noise) and olfactory (such as unpleasant smells). Stimuli are not necessarily recognized, and there are cases where you are aware of them even if you cannot recognize them (such as the discomfort caused by the high frequency of mosquito sounds), and you cannot concentrate if you are aware of continuous stimulation. Visual stimuli include 1. light emission from the display and 2. discomfort in recognition due to pseudo-display technology. Stimuli from electronic devices other than vision include electromagnetic waves. If light emission is the cause, I think that a non-luminous display such as the Kindle is an effective countermeasure. If pseudo-display technology is the cause, eliminating the pseudo-display technology, using an older OS before the pseudo-display technology was introduced, or using a Kindle that does not use pseudo-display technology much would be effective. If electromagnetic waves are the cause, I think that the symptoms will occur regardless of the display device, even with audio players that do not have a display. Please note that this problem is still medically unknown, and this statement is merely my personal speculation and has not been medically recognized.

This is a supplement to the previous paragraph. On the Kindle, the strange feeling occurs when watching videos or scrolling on a website. Therefore, it seems that the problem is less likely to occur with static information that does not involve scrolling.

evthelegend Can totally relate, the problem is luminescent light, and the solution is incandescent, you can either try to make your own incandescent monitor or you can get one with the only manufacturer at spectrumview.com

jordan no injuries, that's what baffles me.

Anesthesiologist anything that is viewed up close like a laptop, phone are the ones that give me symptoms but things like TVs, monitors, projectors give me no symptoms whatsoever. to me it seems like the correlation is between the distance I am viewing the devices from and that is why I believe it is likely EMF but the prevailing thinking of EMF is that it is harmless. also one thing that is important to note is my severity of symptoms change widely day to day. sometimes I have very intense symptoms and can barely use them and sometimes I can use it for hours on end and before they start to occur but those days are exceedingly rare.

Thank you for your reply. Distance is an important factor. I agree that EMF may be a cause, but I don't think it's the cause of your symptoms. Some people feel fatigue or nausea when accompanying patients to CT or MRI scans. However, it is rare for EMF to be the cause in household devices, and it is often limited to certain models. Also, if it is EMF, the symptoms will appear if you are near the device, even if you don't look at the laptop or phone screen. If the symptoms do not appear if you don't look at the screen, then perhaps there is a factor other than EMF that is the problem? I think the most likely cause is light stimulation. This stimulation also has multiple elements, mainly the physical effects of light and the effects of image recognition. If it is light, the strength of the symptoms depends on the amount of light and the distance. In particular, display panels have built-in polarizing plates to achieve beautiful displays and high brightness, so although it is not as strong as a magnifying glass, it still focuses the light, and it has a strong effect at close ranges. I think you are already taking measures, but the main thing is to rest your eyes and brain, maintain a viewing distance, and reduce the amount of light. Although they are expensive because they are not widely used, diffuse light display devices such as reflective LCD displays and e-ink devices are extremely effective for light symptoms. However, please note that they are less effective in resolving the image recognition problems listed below. The image recognition problems are caused by the pseudo display technology that has been discussed in this forum. 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.

Anesthesiologist wow, you are being really helpful thank you so much. I do notice that when Im not directly using the device my symptoms are non existent but I always just took that as the result of me being further away from the device than when I am using it. I will do some testing to confirm if this is the case but now that you brought it up I think its might actually be light because if it truly was EMF my symptoms shouldn't be exclusively when Im using it but when others nearby are using it. ETC. the reason why I didn't consider that originally is because my symptoms are much different than what others on here post about leaving me to think that its is not a case of light sens. I don't believe it to be pseudo display tech because my symptoms are consistent with any device/operating system You are making me want too invest into the special display you mentioned, but I still don't get how something as simple as light can cause such intense symptoms to my concentration, focus, mental clarity, and a weird feeling in my head, etc. is there any way to make my current screen usable? thanks again for being one of the only one to care enough to try to help.

Anesthesiologist also, my eyes do strain pretty bad from the screen and my vision gets significantly worse but it is no different from reading a book in regards to symptoms. also, it may be important to note that my eyes don't hurt or get dry from the use unlike many other sufferers. I'm eagerly awaiting your response!

evthelegend but I still don't get how something as simple as light can cause such intense symptoms to my concentration, focus, mental clarity, and a weird feeling in my head, etc. Yeah it's so hard to comprehend, but even though what you described here are the exact symptoms I get from 90% of screens, for some reason my 2012 Lenovo Yoga 13 (1st gen) laptop basically has no issues at ALL. I still don't know exactly why. But when I use this laptop, as long as my physical ergonomics are good, I can think PERFECTLY and I suddenly don't feel like I have any brain fog or tiredness anymore. For a while when I was stuck with bad screens, I thought I had a fundamental issue with reading that wasn't even related to screens, or I just had issues with "all" screens, like you're currently thinking. But… the moment I booted up that ONE old laptop for the first time in years -- after trying dozens of devices new and old that didn't work at all -- it's like suddenly I was totally fine, it's like my vision issues are totally gone and it even makes the real world look better after I use it. But only when I'm using that specific screen, because when I go back to a bad device, I'm suddenly having all the same problems again. The only other "general-purpose" device that comes close is the Boox Palma, but that's because it's e-ink, and I'm still surprised how one single IPS LCD is able to match e-ink in comfort but nothing else. But because I have something that works, I've just learned to push that laptop to it's absolute limits and get as much mileage as I can out of its screen. (Interestingly, the backlit version of Game Boy Advance SP and the top screen of the 2004 Nintendo DS are the ONLY other two "perfect" color screens for me with zero blurriness or brain fog, even if I load non-game software onto them like a music creation app, but since they're so old and small it takes a lot more effort to figure out how to use them compared to the Palma and my 2012 laptop.) There's a few other screens I know that are "not super messed up" for me and I can still read coherently on without immediately zoning out, but they still cause eye strain. The above four devices are the only ones for me that BOTH cause low-to-zero eye strain AND I can read perfectly. So for the time being I just find ways to use that perfect 13.3" screen (the 2012 Lenovo) for as many things as I can. Instead of trying to fix my bad devices which IMO rarely gets anywhere at all -- I just find more ways to use my single good device for everything, e.g. screensharing into other computers from it and optimizing that laptop's ergonomics as much as I can. At the same time, I'm continuing to search for another good device, but I haven't found one yet. I still don't have a phone that I can use for more than just quick glances or 5 minute bursts without totally losing all of my energy lol. Next week I'm going to start swapping various older LCD panels into a (currently unusable) ThinkPad and see if it's possible to improve it that way. TLDR: In my opinion, it's more worth it to find a different device that works for you — especially starting with trying much older devices just to be able to have something at all — vs. trying to fix the "bad" devices you're currently struggling with. I tried to "improve" and "get used to" a bad 14-inch mini-LED MacBook for a whole two years and literally ended up worse and struggling even more to get work done than when I started. But the moment I found a truly good screen, literally only after a few weeks I was suddenly more productive than I've ever been in the last 5 years. Finding "one good screen" is POSSIBLE if you keep trying. Buying used devices that can be returned is the way to go 🙂 However, finding a good screen in a modern device is the infuriatingly hard part.

Severe Brain Fog from Using Electronics - Seeking Help

evthelegend

Anesthesiologist makes perfect sense, never in human history have we been staring at bright lights all day.

I will give you an update once I purchase an e-ink device

and maybe an RLCD if the e ink solves the issues

Anesthesiologist

As a first step, the boox Palma is a relatively inexpensive product and is the one I would most recommend.

And while you may have problems with the Palma, information about the symptoms will help us give you more advice on the appropriate technique and product recommendations.

diop

evthelegend This was me about 10 years ago. I switched to Mac, and within days I was getting headaches, and 'brain fog' after only 5-10minutes use. I put it down to "it must just be a Mac thing" and tried to ignore it. Unfortunately there isn't much resistance training you can do to help alleviate the symptoms. IMO a bad stimulus is a bad stimulus.

It might be worth trying an older Windows device for a few weeks and see if that gives you any relief.

It is also worth noting that Temporal Dithering uses flicker to create the illusion of more colours on screen than is actually possible to display. When we stare at a desktop/laptop using Temporal Dithering, it is relying on our flicker threshold and perception to fuse the colours together to see the intermediate value. Any flicker is bad, and while PWM now has mainstream attention, other things such as Temporal Dithering (which is ubiquitous now and virtually on all modern devices) has no off switch yet. Macs are notorious for heavy dithering. In my case, a good monitor and a good PC can be made bad just by simply installing a Linux distro. Same hardware, different OS, and sudden onset of symptoms.

DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs

evthelegend I am likely going to buy the boox Palma as it seems to be the most common device recommended in this forum.

I will update you on how it feels to use, I am hoping that it is the first device that I can use without feeling like trash.

by the way, make sure for your initial test to not use the frontlight feature, just natural light — in addition, use it either with the lights at your place off with only sunlight coming in, or use it outside.

since there's a big chance your place uses generic LED lightbulbs with 100% flicker and fuzzy color rendering, that can definitely affect readability of the Palma screen so natural light will give you the best impression of how it feels.

finally, remember to keep turning off "DIsplay Enhancement" in the refresh settings for each app you launch on it

jen

evthelegend Your brain fog symptoms sound similar to mine. I don't know that we have exactly the same issues, but I've been able to link mine to invisible flicker and posted all of my research at www.flickersense.org. I'm a scientist and posted a scientific literature review and my extensive measurements of light and screen flicker correlating with my symptoms. While I'm waiting for safe tech to be developed, I've gotten so sensitive that I've mostly started to learn to use VoiceOver technology with the "screen curtain" on and dim-it sheets hiding the residual light from my phone along with a bluetooth keyboard. So the phone basically becomes a talking touchpad. It's a huge pain, but any days I can stay off of the screens entirely are good ones and help with recovery. I've also hooked up an external keyboard and mouse to the laptop and sit far away, often turned away from the screen while typing - I'm starting to learn to just use a screen reader with that too, but the learning curve is steeper than with the phone. I'm so sorry you're so young and having to deal with this too. I feel grateful I had as many years as I did before LED lights became prevalent and screen flickering worsened.

evthelegend

jen

thanks for the reply, it feels good to be heard.

I ordered a ccfl monitor because I was recommended it many times, would the flicker be different than led?

your website is awesome, only problem is I can't concentrate for more than a minute when looking at a screen.

have u tested different monitors? I feel like im sensitive to some part of the led light itself, whenever I look at it it feels like im staring into a flashlight. have you looked into anything like this?

jen

evthelegend I totally understand not being able to look at the screen. I have a Kobo eInk eReader that's fine for me for reading using it's main functions which are all static displays. I like that it connects with the Pocket App, so if I save a webpage to Pocket, I can read it on the Kobo in a static form. This works for my FlickerSense.org website, except some of the figures don't come through well.

I don't have good display recommendations - nothing has worked for me yet. I can't even tolerate dynamically-refreshing eInk - the version I tried had visible flicker of the pixels. And scrolling on anything is bad for me. I'm also really bothered by screen elements flashing with each keystroke as I type, which seems to be happening more with modern software.

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