Phone Screens & Dark Modes

The use of digital phones has been prevalent these days, from children to people at old age. They use it for work, for socializing, for communication, for learning, and for entertainment. The usage of digital phones has become a big part of our society.

A widespread feature on phone screens these days is the “Dark Mode”. Most are at ease with this feature when they are in a dimly lit place, but this is not always suitable. Our eyes are naturally adept at seeing things in the daytime and not so much at nighttime. We progressed into seeing dark on the light at daylight, so it is better for us to see dark on light rather than the opposite due to primal ways and improved contrast.

Are people with Astigmatism better with their phone screens on Dark Mode? Let’s define Astigmatism first. It is a vision ailment affecting approximately 50% of the population. It is when an individual sees blurred vision due to irregular eye shape. It is a condition that makes it more difficult for people to read light text on dark backgrounds. So people with this condition find it harder to read white text on a black background rather than reading black text on white background due to light levels. White backgrounds cause our iris to close a bit more which decreases the effect of deforming our lenses, while dark backgrounds let our iris open to receive more light which leads to the deformation of lenses so it could focus more.

The best state to read on is black text on a white background because the white background reflects all wavelengths of the visible spectrum thus the iris no longer needs to widen to absorb more light. This makes the pupil remain narrow and there is less effort on focusing.

So, better rethink now whether or not to keep that dark mode on.