The Glaring Solution to Eyestrain

CW FISHER Computers and eyestrain go together like lasagna and reflux. If you work at a computer -- and I know you do -- then you struggle with eyestrain all the time. This has made you cranky and frankly unbearable to live with. Get out. And while you're packing, consider this: I have the solution. You won't find it anywhere else, because I discovered it myself. In exchange for sharing my secret, all I ask is that you forward The Apologist to ten people, no more, no less. And remember: if you break the chain, bad luck could befall you! Why do your eyes hurt? Glare. Right now you're staring at a light source that is likely brighter than the rest of the room. Glare is exhausting. The iris, which is essentially a sphincter muscle, is constantly opening and closing to adjust either to the room or the screen. This muscle gets tired. If you've ever watched an automatic camera try to decide on an exposure when it's pointed toward a window, this is pretty much what your eye is doing. One day I got the nesting bug and started hanging pictures on the wall behind my computer. Then I found a clip light, clamped it to the back of my desk and splashed the wall with light from below. The light source was completely hidden behind the monitor. I liked my new set-up immediately. The pictures gave my eyes something else to look at, while providing a much-needed distraction from more important things. It was clear from the start that my eyes felt better. People began to comment. Hey, what happened to those ugly dark circles around your eyes? Hey, they put you on Viagra or something, maybe MiracleGro? Hey, you look nine pounds younger! Botox? It's not botox! God, I'm so sick of saying that all the time! All I did was balance the brightness of the monitor to everything else in my view. Keep in mind, though, your monitor emits light. Overcoming its direct rays can't be achieved by simply turning up the existing lights. The reason the wall-washer works is because it's an even, but very bright, reflected light, and most important: the source is completely hidden. Forget about fluorescents: they make it worse. Fluorescent light flickers and so does your screen. All that strobing flicks you up.