Monitor Eye Protector

I am never quite sure of the true worth of these devices. They idea is that they filter out harmful (to the eye) rays by acting as an intermediate screen between the monitor and the user.

Obviously, with flat screen technology it would seem that these items are now pretty much redundant as the LCD and Plasma screens work in the same way as a regular high definition TV screen.

In days gone by these filters were supposed to take out glare and radiation and this in turn prevented (or eased) eye strain which could potentially lead to headaches etc.

The fact that regulatory control over monitors (in the West) prevented these effects from happening in the first place seemed to pass many by and they were popular for a time. I can even recall a point where some people actually wore sunglasses to use a computer because they believed that these offered some kind of protection from “damaging” rays.

For those with eye strain at the end of a day using a PC or laptop, here are a couple of tips to bring the problem to an end.

1. Punctuate your time looking at the monitor with other distractions. E.g. Go for a brief walk, or focus on a distant object or landmark for 3 or 4 minutes every hour.

2. Check you monitor versus your head and eye line position. Many people view their monitors at an angle of inclination beyond 90 degrees. This can cause eye strain. You should not look up or down to the central point of your monitors screen.

3. Find out if you need reading glasses for close up work. Many who suffer from eye strain when using a monitor simply need glasses (this happened to me).

4. Periodically check the settings of your monitor. You can go on the web and download colour and monochrome “check” charts which you can use to adjust the colour, brightness and contrast settings of the screen to their optimum. If this proves impossible, then your monitor requires replacing.

5. If you are using an old “box” style monitor you need to replace it. Any monitor of this type will be past its sell by date and should be substituted with a modern flat screen equivalent.

This page, http://www.normankoren.com/color_management_2A.html, has some colour charts examples on it.