Late to the party, but cool insight on dark mode and myopia. Need to check out this research.
Here are more insight on nearsightedness ...
Myopia rates are up and to the right globally past 50 years, most prevalent in Asian countries, and the problem is complicated.
> Children are spending less time outdoors: sunlight (Vitamin D) hardens the eyeball during eye development in young people.
> Cultural and occupational expectations: normalize insanely long working/school hours, leading to more time doing near work on average.
> Genetics: some people are more likely to have eye problems because of their genetics.
Common misconception frames blue light as bad for eyeballs, when in reality, blue light affects your circadian rhythm. Second order effects could be an inability to fall asleep, leading to even more screen time or near work.
The rub lies in the amount of near work a person does and if they developed their eyes properly at an early age.
Dark mode prevents myopia (nearsightedness).
Dr. Alexander Wunsch, German physician studying the effects of light on health for 30+ years:
"Whenever the opportunity arises to read text white on black, we should do so."
Here's the mechanism:
Your retina has two cell systems — ON cells and OFF cells.
Black letters on white background activate the OFF cell system.
Chronic activation of the OFF cell system promotes the development of myopia.
Dark mode — white text on black background — activates the ON cell system instead.
This is the preventive mechanism.
There is also a significant difference in total light load:
> Standard display (white background, black text): 95% of screen light is emitted to display the page. Only 5% is the actual text.
> Dark mode (black background, white text): only 5% of total light is needed to convey the same information.
Less light from the screen. The correct cell system is activated. Lower myopia risk.
The first computer screens were dark mode by default — black background, green or amber text.
That was optimal.
The shift to white backgrounds was aesthetic, not biological.
University of Tübingen, 2018 — researchers developed a mathematical model analyzing image content for myopia risk potential.
Their finding?
Natural outdoor scenes have a neutral effect on the eye.
Conventional text on white background promotes myopia development.
Dark mode presentation does not.
They then tested this in subjects.
Black letters on white background produced measurable changes in the eye that promote myopia.
In Europe, half of all students are already nearsighted.
Myopia is the most common visual impairment among young people.
The more a child reads — the higher the risk.
The mechanisms are not yet fully understood in all details. But the consequences are clear.
Wunsch: "Dark mode is recommended wherever it does not impair the workflow during screen work."
"In the evening and at night, this should be the mandatory setting in order to keep the disruption of the internal clock and the possible damage to the retina as low as possible."
Wunsch's advice to parents: "If children discover the joy of reading and develop into bookworms, it is certainly a good investment to provide them with an e-book reader that enables text display on a dark background."
The original screen setting was black background.
We changed it for aesthetics.
The biology didn't change with it.
10,000 years of human communication. And we're still building.
Smoke signals. Conch shells. Postal systems. Flags. Telegraph. Broadcast radio. The home telephone. Then email.
Today we send messages at the speed of light. Office workers spend half their work week doing it.
Adult myopia is up 68% since 1970.
New tech breeds new problems.
Timbre is how we catch up to ourselves.
Voice first. Eyes up.
@__LightningWolf@pubity Do the savings from ai outweigh the loss of business from poor customer experience?
Some McDonald’s employee somewhere is crunching the numbers …
@OneGoodTweeter@pubity The order-ahead ability is convenient, but slows everything even more for the person ordering in-store.
McDonald’s should consider having restaurant locations for people who want to sit down then ride-sharing/drive-through and order-ahead hubs for this.
Another stat: 2.6 billion people globally are nearsighted, projected to be 50% of the world's population by 2050.
Stay connected. Save your eyeballs. @Timbrexyz
Source: EyeCare Center OC, Myopia Statistics (2026)
https://t.co/jSFaH9g4Z6
@robertdoleary@TuckerGoodrich ya its any activity done close to your eyes (like reading or being on your phone/computer) for a sustained period of time
@paulg random thought -> the best professors should ditch their unis and release their courses themselves, either for free or for subs
that way everyone could get access to and ivy-league education, resulting in a much more productive society
idk, not my lane
Another stat: 2.6 billion people globally are nearsighted, projected to be 50% of the world's population by 2050.
Stay connected. Save your eyeballs. @Timbrexyz
Source: EyeCare Center OC, Myopia Statistics (2026)
https://t.co/jSFaH9g4Z6