Blue Light Screen Blocker
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Just getting educated on blue blockers. My dr. said I need an actual blocker screen for my dell laptop. Can I get this and use f.lux as well? Can you add f.lux to your phone? I guess once downloaded I dont need to adjust anything? Thank you!
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Your doctor doesn't know about f.lux then. F.lux is more than good enough for actually eliminating the blue light. So, just use f.lux.
Whether you can use f.lux on your phone depends on what phone you have. Check the forums though. You will see.
You shouldn't have to adjust anything once it's installed, but I still recommend checking all the settings to make sure you like where they are set by default.
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Hi Kizzy, did your doctor recommend a particular screen blocker? We have some measurements online at https://fluxometer.com/rainbow so you can see how different ones work. Many of the ones we've measured don't do very much at all, so if you want to post more about what your goals and needs are we can help you know what to look for.
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Hi There. My dr is concerned about sleep and since I am on my computer all the time she felt an actual blue light blocker protector would be needed. I am all about gettting educated if others think otherwise.
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@kizzy3131 said in Blue Light Screen Blocker:
Hi There. My dr is concerned about sleep and since I am on my computer all the time she felt an actual blue light blocker protector would be needed. I am all about gettting educated if others think otherwise.
But does your doctor know about f.lux? I doubt it because if they knew about it, then I am 100% sure they would recommend it instead. All your doctor is really saying is, you're just as affected by blue light as anyone else. You don't have any kind of a condition. F.lux will enable you to use your computer in the last ~3 hours before going to bed without being blasted by blue light. Just set f.lux to something warm like 1900K or warmer (1200K maybe), and significantly reduce the display's brightness using the built-in controls for your display and you will be all set.
But you should also avoid bright alerting light everywhere in your home at night, not just at the computer.
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@kizzy3131 We are huge fans of wearing light blocking glasses at night. The big reason to do this is because programs like f.lux don't filter out the rest of the light in your life (like TVs, game consoles, or lights in your bathroom for example). There are also many claims made about light blocking glasses that aren't always true. You'll most likely want glasses that look dark orange or even red (these aren't safe to drive in!). If you want to try this cheaply, the ones I use at home are Uvex SCTOrange, you can get them from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Uvex-Blocking-Computer-Glasses-SCT-Orange/dp/B000USRG90/ref=sr_1_1 and they have a fitover version here: https://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S0360X-Ultra-spec-SCT-Orange-Anti-Fog/dp/B003OBZ64M/ref=sr_1_2
If you find you want to continue using them, there are some more expensive options available. Low Blue Lights is a good company and they make accurate claims about their products: https://lowbluelights.com/product-category/eyewear/non-fitover-eyewear/
You can see how all of these are a pretty deep orange! You can definitely use them together with f.lux if you like how it looks. These glasses are strong enough to block out most of the light you'll see in your house at night.
After a while you might become like some of us and start buying dimmers and orange and color changing light bulbs!
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@TwoCables there are so many medical conditions that can result in increased sensitivity to blue light! Some people just seem to be genetically more sensitive, too... honestly none of it is our business, but we can help explain how light blocking works, with glasses or in other ways.
For example, here is an iPad Pro when viewed through Uvex SCT orange: https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=iPad Pro/6500K-iPad Pro&filter=filter/UVEX SCT Orange and without any light blocking intervention: https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=iPad Pro/6500K-iPad Pro
@lorna
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And here is the same iPad with one of the many filters that claim to help sleep (unless they are a deep orange, most of them do absolutely nothing): https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=iPad Pro/6500K-iPad Pro&filter=filter/SleepShield
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I will maintain that f.lux is all that's needed here. I think the doctor just doesn't know about f.lux, but at least they tell their patients the importance of avoiding blue light at night. As kizzy3131 said, " and since I am on my computer all the time she felt an actual blue light blocker protector would be needed" Of course that's going to be the recommendation if the doctor doesn't know about f.lux. I think the doctor is simply saying what we already know: avoid blue light at night. Simple.
I think this is just a simple need for f.lux so that Kizzy3131 can still use the computer but not be blasted by blue light at the end of the day - which is what f.lux does extremely well.
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@TwoCables In a dark room, you're likely to be correct. But in a normally lit room - just normal room lighting is really alerting! Now if you were at our house, f.lux just takes care of all that for you, including lights. But for the rest of the world, blue blockers are a super great way to test whether lights are messing up your sleep. For $8 it's really pretty good.
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@lorna said in Blue Light Screen Blocker:
@TwoCables In a dark room, you're likely to be correct. But in a normally lit room - just normal room lighting is really alerting! Now if you were at our house, f.lux just takes care of all that for you, including lights. But for the rest of the world, blue blockers are a super great way to test whether lights are messing up your sleep. For $8 it's really pretty good.
And f.lux is free. Kizzy's doctor is recommending a blue light blocker that goes on the monitor.
For example: https://lowbluelights.com/product-category/screen-filters/
These are a waste of money if you can just use f.lux, and I think we can all agree on here that f.lux has the same result as these screen filters.
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@TwoCables Right, plastic that goes over your monitor doesn't block your house lights either -- most of the ones for sale do nothing to block circadian-disrupting light, and then you're still stuck with your house lights. @kizzy3131 please try the Uvex, tell your doctor about them too.
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I still recommend asking the doctor if they know about f.lux. I doubt they do because they would have recommend it instead since it's free.
I'm sorry to be so damn hard-nosed, but I'm not going to support purchasing something when you can just use f.lux which is free and does the same thing as what is being recommended! The doctor is simply recommending that they use some way of blocking the blue light coming off of the computer monitor. That's what f.lux does and it's free.
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@TwoCables Well, f.lux is still prohibited from the App store, but yes.
We measured that, since we like data more than guessing.Here's the iPad Pro with the low blue lights zz filter https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=iPad Pro/6500K-iPad Pro&filter=filter/LowBlueLights Zzz and here is the same screen with f.lux in before bed mode: https://fluxometer.com/rainbow/#!id=iPad Pro/1900K-iPad Pro - let's not even talk about the Apple intervention, it's far less effective.
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Thank you. Now we're talkin'.
F.lux is where it's at. Don't buy a screen filter. Just get f.lux. It does the same thing and it's free.
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excuse me, but f. lux on my monitor philips 221el eliminate the problem blue ligh? I select 1200k...... I haven't the glasses
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@neweye said in Blue Light Screen Blocker:
excuse me, but f. lux on my monitor philips 221el eliminate the problem blue ligh? I select 1200k...... I haven't the glasses
I think about 99.99% of the people on this planet don't need anything other than f.lux on any monitor. 1200K is more than good enough.
