Blue light filter for PC screen: how to recognize it and what monitor to choose

The blue light filter for the PC screen is also known as ” Low Blue LightTechnology“-literally low blue light-and reduces blue light emissions in monitors to prevent eye fatigue and diseases such as eye degeneration.

When purchasing a monitor it is necessary, therefore, to pay close attention that this technology is built into the features.

Let’s find out in detail why it is critical to protect yourself from blue light and what devices it is emitted from.

What is blue light

Blue light is radiation that belongs to the spectrum of digital and LED visual devices (cell phones, monitors, TVs, tablets, etc.), between 380 and 500 nanometers.

Instead, the light that the human eye can see is between 380 and 780 nanometers.

Its presence is essential to ensure proper vision, but excessive exposure can cause some problems.

In fact, short wavelength radiation-380 to 450 nanometers from the highest energy-can potentially cause damage to ocular tissue.

What is the blue light filter for?

Blue light is used to raise the threshold of attention when we are in front of the monitor.

While this is a useful part of the visual spectrum, when exposure is above normal, it causes at least 5 times less blinking of the eye (which serves to lubricate it) than normal and consequently more dryness.

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How blue light abuse affects the human eye

Once blue light reaches the retina, it interferes with the macular pigment epithelium and photoreceptors, causing some severe damage. These include, from the least serious to the most problematic:

• Dry eye;
• Eye fatigue;
• Difficulty in focusing;
• Headache;
• Premature aging of the retina;
• Age-related macular degeneration.

How maculopathies develop

Maculopathies are usually age-related and result in gradual vision loss.

Constant or excessive exposure to blue light from screens can speed up this process, as explained by a team of researchers at the University of Toledo and reported in the journal Scientific Reports (and in Wired).

Specifically, the mechanism behind blue light causes the death of retinal photoreceptors, neurons that intercept light reaching the back of the eye.

They then transform it into a bioelectric signal by sending it to the brain via the optic nerve and turning it into the information needed for the visual stimulus.

Just the blue light would turn “retinal,” a molecule necessary for vision, into a kind of cell killer.

According to scientific evidence, the eye affected by blue light shows an abnormal increase in calcium in the cytoplasm until the cell changes shape and dies.

Photoreceptors thus exposed, do not regenerate in the eye, and thus the eye loses visual power.

Headaches and fatigue could be non-negligible signs that this degenerative process may be beginning.

To prevent the side effects of blue light exposure generally special glasses recommended by an ophthalmologist are used, but a screen equipped with specific protection can also help protect.

The best screens feature Low Blue Light technology designed precisely to prevent eye fatigue and other related damage.

Occupational safety and low blue light

Whether it is for entertainment or professional purposes, when spending many hours a day in front of a screen it is essential to have monitors with included blue light protection, protective devices, or modulate monitor settings manually to avoid eye damage.

As mentioned, Low Blue Light technology offers intelligent protection already often already included in the monitor; this is not to say that it is enough to ensure the absolute absence of vision damage, because chronic or accumulated vision would also need to be evaluated.

As expressed in Legislative Decree 81/2008 Title VIII, Chapters I, II, III, IV and V on prevention and protection from risks due to exposure to physical agents in the workplace:

“Similar is the case with regard to photochemical retinal damage, also known as “blue light” risk, since, at the present state of knowledge, it is believed to be most effectively induced by visible blue radiation of wavelengths between 435 and 440 nm, but also by other wavelengths of visible radiation predominantly between 380 and 550 nm (a range that partly includes green light).

Such damage, in fact, is prevented by respecting the ELVs with regard to the possible occurrence of acute damage, while compliance with these same limits cannot, in the current state of knowledge, absolutely prevent retinal damage from chronic exposure related to the total dose accumulated by the worker over long periods (years, tens of years).”

Therefore, it becomes essential to frequently (experts recommend every 20 minutes) detach the eye from the monitor and every 120 min take a 15-minute break (dlgs 81/2008 implementing Article 1 Law 123/2007), wear glasses also equipped with adequate protection, with chemical compounds such as benzotriazole and benzophenone, designed precisely to absorb at least 40 percent of the blue violet spectrum, especially the most harmful one.

Fastbrain offers a wide selection of products at the best prices

Consumer electronics, audio devices such as headphones and earphones, TVs, Notebooks, printers, tablets, computer hardware such as RAM, motherboards, HDDs and SDDs, and more.

The B2B area is reserved for companies and VAT holders, the prices you will find within the area are discounted and reserved for business customers.

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In the Store you will find a selection of the best brands and the most competitive prices on the market.

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What is Low Blue Light (LBL) Technology

It is a technology designed to filter out eye-damaging blue lights and can be found in the On screen Display (OSD) menu.

A preset mode that keeps blue light emission low to prevent the damage it can cause.

One way to protect yourself is also to select it directly in the monitor’s color temperature settings.

As in cell phones, where the blue light filter mode, for example, is activated, this is indispensable in every monitor, especially if we have to work several hours on the PC.

Optimally setting the brightness of screens and turning on blue light can help curb and prevent major problems to the visual spectrum and ocular tissues, but disproportionate screen use does not protect against 100 percent damage.

About ViewSonic

For those who do not know, ViewSonic Corporation is a top U.S. company in the manufacture and supply of
visual technology
, CRT monitors, liquid crystal and plasma displays, projectors, HDTV technology, mobile products, and computers.

It was founded in 1987 as Keypoint Technology Corporation. In 1990 he developed the ViewSonic line of monitors.