Dev Health Rant!

Hey guys, so I've been supper busy working most of the time and doing passion projects, very recently I've noticed eyestrain at the end of the day. Lights seem too bright and far away stuff seems a bit blurry, this doesn't happen on weekends when I don't look at any screen.

I feel like shit because of it, I can't go to the hospital since they are COVID crammed, I'm thinking about asking for a 2 week PTO to see if it subsides and buy some blue light filter glasses.

What do you think? Anyone in a similar situation?

Been there. Get more sleep, buy a few plants/open windows on the reg (high Co2 will fuck your energy levels). It'll go away eventually.

@SortOfTested that's a bit relieving, I'll take the advice to heart thank you

I used to get similar to this when I worked in a really light room with monitor brightness cranked all the way up so I can see what I was doing.

Now I work in a reasonably dim room (not pitch black or anything, but curtains closed with the normal lights on) and don't need the brightness on my monitor turned up beyond the bare minimum as a result - never had the issue since.

@AlmondSauce my office is usually lit naturally with some light when it's dark and I tend to keep the brightness on 40-70% with red light but I think I might be getting old

@SortOfTested "it'll go away eventually" 🤣

if only that were true for me, I ended up being diagnosed with Keratoconus and can't see shit without glasses.
But yes , get some rest, reduce screen time, and if problems persist go get checked up.

(For all you playing at home that couldn't pronounce that, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/... )

@C0D4
Shush edge case :p You're going to get him self-diagnosing.

@SortOfTested what'd you say?
Let me go get my glasses on 🧐

Ah yes, no, we don't want that, this isn't a scare tactic, just laying down my experience with such a problem in the past.

Blue light glasses and dark themes might help, it could also just be from eye strain from long hours in front of the screen (hence why I said reduce screen time), but don't fret my situation is a 1:2000 chance anyway according to that wiki.

@JKyll Fwiw, my monitor brightness and contrast are both set to as low as they'll go, and I have an additional screen darkner app on top of that to make it darker still.

@C0D4 you’re the first person I found having keratoconus!!!
I was diagnosed with it around 5 years ago.

@scout
5 years, 1:2000 odds, I'm getting really scared now.

Perks of reaching that 30+ milestone, mine as stopped receding, but yea, I'll walk into a wall without my glasses, and I get that "your two feet tall" feeling if I do go anywhere without them, imprisoned by glass.

It's a small world finding others with the same condition though. 🤜🤛

@C0D4 haha yeah!!, when were you diagnosed?

My progression was negligible for the first few years. Last year when I got pregnant, there was a sudden deterioration....I feel scared now. If it keeps progressing...........

@scoutlate late 2015, so coming up to the 5 year marker, I was always putting the eye strain to just being tired from work, 12 hour days door-to-door will do that, but it got to the point I couldn't even watch tv, so got my self checked out if there was an issue, wasn't expecting much to come of it, and well... you know how the rest plays out.

Here's hoping it calms back down for you, can't say I have experience with that particular case.

I have been looking straight at my screen for hours every day. And to this day, i have no issues with my eyes - probably because I'm a dark mode <everything> type of developer. I guess it paid off to be emo. Also, the font matters more than you think (while some nerds out there might think its some hipster shit). I am selective and became a “font aficionado.” Here are some fonts to give you an idea:

Entry level:
- Fira Code
- Source Code Pro
- Roboto

Aficionado Level:
- IBM Plex Mono | IBM Plex Text
- Cascadia Mono Regular (currently my eye’s favorite)

@amoux it's interesting, I use Firacode Medium but looking at cascadia actually causes me eyestrain 😕

It looks nice, I just can't look at it.

@C0D4 Hmm, maybe your monitor? Fonts do change depending on pixel density (PPI).

Here's a screenshot of how it looks on my end. The resolution/quality might not hold in devrant:

@amoux yea I do like it, but looking at it for a few minutes is like agony, don't know how to explain it 😆

I've installed some custom LED strips at the top of my desk for that (and to illuminate my workspace). That and dark themes really do a lot for me.. same for my TV and such too, although on that one it's at the back of the TV itself.

Edit: oh and take regular breaks! And if you have multiple displays, put them at different distances. This ensures that your eyes' focal point changes accordingly as you switch between screens, and reduce that blur.