Screens that Are Easier on the Eyes
We love our screens, even though they aren’t always kind to our eyes. So we should either stop loving our screens or design them so they play better with our eyes.
Most devices use backlit LCD screens that transmit a powerful light (about the equivalent of a car headlight before it’s filtered) directly into our eyes. Three things are potentially bad about this:
- The dreaded blue light that studies have shown can damage the cells in our retina
- That same blue light tends to mess with our sleep patterns and
- The strain on our eye muscles from constantly trying to find a focus point on a flashing and confusing screen.
New technologies like Reflective LCD (or RLCD) screens are looking to address some of these problems and change the way we look at our gadgets. RLCDs use sunlight or ambient light to illuminate their screens, and they’ve recently made some significant technological advances. They can support higher resolutions, HD video, and a full color gamut. And when used with a front light LED system like FLEx , reflective LCDs can be lit by a single LED when no ambient or sunlight is present, so they can work in any lighting conditions.
Real Color is Reflective
Our experience with color in nature or any non-device experience is reflective. In other words, color is not beamed into our eyes, instead we see the way light reflects and plays off an object. Reflective displays let us experience color the same way, absorbing the wavelengths of certain colors and reflecting others.
A Natural Sleep Cycle
Blue light tells our body to wake up. It suppresses melatonin, a natural hormone that helps us sleep. Studies have shown that short-wavelength-enriched light (usually peaking in the blue light range) produces alerting effects and interferes with our biological clocks. So that last tweet you send or video you watch is likely keeping you awake. With a reflective display, the experience is more like reading a book.
Kids and Screens
Finally, screens that can go outdoors and use reflective lighting allow kids to be outside and experience colors more naturally. If we want kids to get outside more, creating learning devices that work outside seems like a smart move.
Devices are integral to our life, and we should be making devices that fit our lives. Not the other way around.
FLEx frontlit technology is changing the way we look at our devices. Since 2004, FLEx has been a world leader in lighting solutions, and in constant pursuit of the world’s thinnest lighting system.
