I wore blue light blocking glasses for a week and I have no idea if they worked

Because I stare at screens ten hours a day, my eyesight is at risk. To avoid the dangers of screens, I took matters into my own hands.

It should come to no surprise that constantly looking at a laptop or smartphone screen is bad for you. But 70-percent of Millennials (like myself), report symptoms of digital eye strain ー way more than Baby Boomers (57-percent) and Gen Xers (63-percent).

A major contributing factor to this problem is blue light, and because I want to keep my perfect vision intact, I did some research and found that blue light blocking glasses are proven to reduce exposure. So I purchased a relatively cheap pair and decided to keep them on my face for an entire week.

Background

My eyesight has been 20/20 my whole life, so I’ve never needed glasses to read or see. But because all of my work is online, towards the end of every workday, my eyes tend to get a little strained. However, it never gets to the point of headaches or eye irritation.

The one-week experience

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I was excited to start the week long experiment to see if I would notice any major differences, but honestly, I just wanted to look professor-level intelligent.

Glasses are actually proven to make people look smarter, and I definitely found that to be true. Personally, I thought I looked more intelligent but so did my colleagues. I was showered with compliments on day one, so I thought the purchase was already a win.

Aside from their look, the glasses were comfortable. But on day three, I felt the constant need to take them off. I couldn’t tell if it was my eyesight or the lenses, but I’m leaning towards the latter. Every screen I looked at was slightly blurry, but I was still able to read and work.

Other than that, it was a positive little experiment. I didn’t experience anything out of the norm and my eyes still felt the same at the end of the week.

Verdict

I honestly have no clue if the glasses worked. If they did work, it’s money well spent. If they had no effect whatsoever, it’s a great placebo.

Going forward, I’ll probably still wear the glasses because:

1. It can’t hurt.
2. I feel like an intellectual when I wear them.

If you work with computers for a living and have some spare cash, I’d say blue light blocking glasses are worth the mini-investment.