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Comment by MavisBacon | Hacker News Reader

A lot of people over the age of 40 or even 35 are going to have trouble reading a physical text from a comfortable distance in light dim and warm enough not to affect one's circadian rhythm. Though I see your points and agree with aspects of this piece I also really struggle to see how a dim light close to your face is objectively worse than lighting your entire room in order to read a book and think extreme statements about the harms of LED/Blue light/Screens tend to more often than not generate unnecessary anxiety in a world where LEDs and screens are inevitable for many/most

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> A lot of people over the age of 40 or even 35 are going to have trouble reading a physical text from a comfortable distance in light dim and warm enough not to affect one's circadian rhythm.

This, so very much this. I no longer read physical books. I need more light to do so, I need readers (which give me a headache). eBooks are the best thing for me, and allow me to keep on reading where I think I'd have largely stopped by now if I could only have paper books.

I'm in that age group (post author) - over 40.

I've experimented with self-lit screens vs lantern lit {books, e-ink screens} vs overhead incandescent bulb lit {books, e-ink screens}. The results are clear. LED lit screens are awful for my sleep.

But we disagree on a major point about LED screens being "inevitable." That is, certainly, the current cultural default. No question. But I also know a lot of people who are rejecting that default - partly due to their own experiments with "But how do I sleep?"

I don't think LED lighting is a force of nature, by any means. I think it's a human decision, that we can agree to or not. And if it's a problem after dark, as I argue it is, then we ought reject it in favor of things that don't mess with our sleep and overnight melatonin levels.

I guess my point is that although the LED lit screen was awful for your sleep, that's not to say it's an awful thing for all. When it comes to insomnia there is always a psychological component, which makes the wind-down process before sleep incredibly important. As someone who works in accessibility I can tell you that it is a fact that reading physical texts at night is going to be a big issue for a lot of people over 40 and most people over 60. It's better that they are allowed to continue with their nightly reading habit with control over font size, contrast, brightness than to say "hey figure something else out, tablets at bedtime will kill you!". the alternative is likely to eventually be an even larger screen anyways or a more physically or cognitively stimulating activity.

For those of you too young to have used a public library much as an adult, they often carried many of the popular titles, as well as some specifically-requested ones, in large print editions precisely for their older patrons.

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