Tech
NYT Asks: Do Blue-Light Glasses Work?
Folks, people are wearing blue-light glasses, and the New York Times is on it.
In a hard-hitting exposé in the Style section, the Grey Lady perceptively notes that blue-light glasses have gotten more widespread in the past year, as quarantining has forced people to spend more time in front of their computer screens. The article goes on to interview “experts,” most of whom agree that blue-light glasses, most of which are laughably inexpensive, are nonetheless a waste of money.
Look, I’m not here to tell you that the $10 specs you bought from some random Chinese factory on the internet are actually exactly what you need to relieve eye strain and improve your sleep. I got so-called computer glasses years ago, and I’m under no illusions that they’ve done anything whatsoever for my ocular health.
But that’s kind of the point—what is the Times doing pretending that this is some sort of new trend? For years, people have been telling themselves that this magic eyewear from the internet will absolve them of the guilt that comes from being enslaved to their laptops and smartphones. Everybody knows that spending too much time glued to a screen is bad for them, but just like with the gazillion dollar pharmaceutical industry, they’d prefer throwing money at a problem as opposed to addressing the root issue. Welcome to America.
The most striking thing about the paper of record’s feigned credulity on the topic of blue-light glasses is that the very question was addressed in the Wirecutter, all the way back in 2017. For those keeping score at home, the New York Times purchased the Wirecutter in 2016. I’m not sure what new research needed to be conducted in 2021, when navigating to this helpful URL would have done the trick: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/what-are-computer-glasses-and-do-they-work/
Or if you don’t want to waste time reading regurgitated “news” articles, you could just spend the sawbuck and make the decision for yourself. Go right ahead: there’s nothing stopping you.
I am not a licensed psychiatrist, so I am not going to weigh in on whether Seasonal Affective Disorder is a legitimate mood disorder, as opposed to a normal human response to a change in seasons. But I will say that whoever named it obviously thought it was a joke – there is no way you can tall someone you are “SAD” and expect the sympathy that traditionally accompanies revelations of mental illness.
Whether you actually suffer from clinical depression or just would prefer more sunlit hours in a day, now is the time of year to start preparing for the winter blues. Daylight Savings Time is ending this weekend, which is the government’s way of telling you it does not want you to be happy when you get off work in the evenings.
In theory, SAD lamps can help. Contrary to their name, SAD lamps are not designed to bring you further down into the dumps but instead to make you happy. Maybe they should call them HAPPY lamps. I’ll let the professionals to come up with some appropriate backronym for that like they obviously did with Season Affective Disorder all those years ago.
SAD lamps are useful for so-called “light therapy.” Again, I’m not a doctor, so I do not know exactly how they work, besides the crucial fact that they are meant to mimic daylight while filtering out UV rays. Putting one in your home can help you combat the effects of earlier and earlier sunsets, and maybe even trick your brain into thinking you live in Florida. SAD lamps aren’t very expensive, so if your mood ever starts to sag (especially going into the holidays without being surrounded by family), you might as well give it a go.
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