E-readers 'damage sleep and health,' doctors warn

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I did not lump the overstating of the researchers with the overstating of the BBC article and I did not single out the article author. I did criticize the BBC.

I am sure there have been plenty of studies on the impact of headlines on what readers (as a whole) take away from an article, and I doubt that it has been shown to be negligible.

Headline-writers are paid to hook readers. Their effect on what readers think the article is about is probably not a priority when writing the headlines. That's why the headline should be irrelevant when discussing the article and the experiment. I agree with criticizing the way headlines sometimes pervert the news, though.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Well, the article and study did have a good effect on me that I am very thankful for. It appears that too much blue light at bedtime or before is bad for sleep. I have checked my settings on my prefered ereader in bed - a PW1. Used to read at about light level 10 in bed. Turned it down to 0 (the lowest setting) and it works quite well there. It was still bright after a while and on the blueish side. Switched to phone (Note4 oled) with Kindle app - and that even turned down in night mode (white text on black) could have been darker. Further research from me revealed a very nasty effect of oled - and that is screen burn-in. It is beautiful, yes, especially since black is really black, but it is inferior to lcd with the comeback of burn-in.

Next candidate my tablets (both with lcd, yay) - switched reading app to fbreader (calibre integration, automatic sync, customizeable colors). Changed settings around for night-mode with black background and dark red (no blue, no green, just pure red) text. Screen dimmed down a lot - and it is beautiful to read in bed. Feels even nicer to my eyes than the PW dimmed down as much as it goes. Added benefit of the red is the night vision not being destroyed and it is as far away from blue as possible. Even on my phone now for on the go I am leaving the night mode of fbreader on with red text.

If the study intended to be helpful to people that's exactly what they should have recommended. I also like the "Nightmode" for Kobo and I don't understand why Kobo doesn't provide this option natively.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Barcey

If the study intended to be helpful to people that's exactly what they should have recommended. I also like the "Nightmode" for Kobo and I don't understand why Kobo doesn't provide this option natively.

For those who use nightmode, do you have to have the light up more or less then not in nightmode? This is for when you are in a dark room.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

That's why the headline should be irrelevant when discussing the article and the experiment. I agree with criticizing the way headlines sometimes pervert the news, though.

The problem in this case here is that the headline is not a stretch. It is exactly as the study says. They don't mention at all in the study that there might be other ereaders or settings that will be better with less possibly no effect on sleep compared to traditional paper book reading. You could even get the wrong idea that it bunches all ereaders with light under light-emitting, even those with eink that don't even depend on their light to function. Worried about sleep? Simply turn your frontlight off in eink and use bedside lamp before bed.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For those who use nightmode, do you have to have the light up more or less then not in nightmode? This is for when you are in a dark room.

Not sure what you mean with that. Android for example used to have a "reading mode" in some 4.x variants which basically allowed certain "reading" apps to be dimmer than "normal" apps. Android 5.0 does not have a reading mode at all any more - the reading mode appears to be enabled all the time for every app. You also now have the choice of leaving auto-brightness on all the time, but you can decide with a slider if you want to be on the very dim or very bright side. Before Lollipop it disabled auto brightness whenever you manually moved the light slider. IMPO the new way is much better.

The "nightmode" I was talking about in fbreader is the color scheme for night (white on black) that I further dimmed down by changing it first to grey on black and tden dark-red on black. When I turn my bedroom light on, or walk with the tablet or phone into some other lit room, then I need to turn the light up to see anything.

[crich70]

I've never had trouble sleeping while reading on my Kindle. In fact sometimes I practically fall asleep holding my reader. When I'm so tired that I am on the verge of dropping my reader I know I'm tired and it's time to go to sleep.

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

For those who use nightmode, do you have to have the light up more or less then not in nightmode? This is for when you are in a dark room.

I have the brightness set to 5% in nightmode
.

[Xanthe]

Forget about the light from the device stimulating my brain before I go to sleep; it's me playing Candy Crush Saga and Fairway Solitaire that does it - lol.

[JaneD]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Forget about the light from the device stimulating my brain before I go to sleep; it's me playing Candy Crush Saga and Fairway Solitaire that does it - lol.

This is exactly why I stopped reading my tablet before bed, and switched back to my eink Kindle. Just couldn't lay off the games!

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Forget about the light from the device stimulating my brain before I go to sleep; it's me playing Candy Crush Saga and Fairway Solitaire that does it - lol.

I play solitaire to help me get to sleep - Forty Thieves. I play in bed on my phone with the brightness at 0.4% and contrast down to 45% using ScreenDim app. In normal light with these settings you can barely tell that the screen is on.

[Barty]

It's one study. Why are some people acting like there's some grand conspiracy. Good grief. I see this any time anybody says anything negative about ebooks or e readers.

Honestly it's not unreasonable to think having light shone in your face before bed isn't good for your sleep. If light has no effect, why do you turn the light off when you go to bed then? Why worry about disturbing your bed mate. Just leave the light on and tell them they're fine, shut up, go to sleep, and let you read in peace. Where do you think jet lag come from? Your circadian rhythm is tied to light.

Sure the amount of light is excessive. But they probably did that because it's not feasible to put people in a sleep lab for six months and let them read with their normal routine.

There will be other studies. I'd be curious to see what happens if you just have people look at blank screen, emissive or reflective. Also, reading versus other activities, like texting, Facebooking, etc.

The most common health complaint is poor sleep. Much of it can be attributed to poor sleep hygiene. But people just prefer to think it is stress, work, undiagnosed health problems, etc rather than their bed time habits.

[JSWolf]

It's not anything to do with negative comments about reading. It's the stupidity of the test using an iPad at FULL brightness for 4 hours. That's just stupid.

I don't know of anyone who would need to use a tablet in full brightness in a dark room.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Barty

It's one study. Why are some people acting like there's some grand conspiracy. Good grief. I see this any time anybody says anything negative about ebooks or e readers.

Mainly because there IS a conspiracy. It's not grand, by any means, but there IS a strong desire by the status quo to prove either the inferiority and/or the danger of ereading and in ebooks in general. Has been from day one. I won't let that blind me to reasonable research with sensible methodology (should I ever come across any), but I'm also not going start from the position of; "It's got to be bad for people—now if only we could prove how (or make it SOUND like we've proven how)" standpoint that many seem to accept as the "default."

Honestly it's not unreasonable to think having light shone in your face before bed isn't good for your sleep.

I agree. I also just happen to believe it's not unreasonable to think it might not make a difference one way or another for many peoples sleep. I KNOW it doesn't for mine.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's not anything to do with negative comments about reading. It's the stupidity of the test using an iPad at FULL brightness for 4 hours. That's just stupid.

I don't know of anyone who would need to use a tablet in full brightness in a dark room.

Not even a test subject in an experiment? I don't think they were trying to replicate real world conditions. Why should they? That would be an untenable restriction to impose on experimenters.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

Not even a test subject in an experiment? I don't think they were trying to replicate real world conditions. Why should they? That would be an untenable restriction to impose on experimenters.

Did you just ask why research being used to suggest real world implications might want to use real world conditions?