How Using The Computer Damaged My Vision
***EDIT****
I am NOT SUING apple. I never said I was GOING TO. Please, go get your eyes checked.
Also, I DO NOT HATE APPLE. I LOVE APPLE. So stop saying I'm a hater.
I changed the TITLE because I am sick of dealing with all of you.
I always had perfect 20/20 vision - my entire life. My parents didn't get glasses until they were in their late 40s. On June 16th, 2009 I got a MacBook White. I started to use it everyday, somedays all day when I was stressed, and others 2 to 3 hours a day.
One day, I began getting eye pain. I didn't see it as an awful thing. I kept on going with my life. Everything seemed to be fine, otherwise, as far as I could tell. I kept up my blog (www.julietheblogger.com) and I enjoyed my work. Somedays, my eyes would begin to water, as soon as I watched my MacBook boot up. Again, it was summer, I just assumed it was allergies or something.
Around September 2009, my eye pains begin to be come a regular thing. I'd have them everyday, all day long. No matter where I looked. I could barely see things that were 2.5 ft away from my face, at times. My eyes would fill up with water multiple times a day, and then I'd have to get about 4 tissues and let the water out, making my eyes sting a lot. People read to me somedays, and it was really hard.
I didn't have time to get to a doctor because I was battling tumors then, and I needed to get my treatments, and surgery. Those 2 things were very time consuming, and I couldn't get to an eye doctor until November 2009. When I did go to the doctor and explained the multiple eye drops I was using to try and get the whole thing to stop, I got my answers. During the exam, I was looking at something, and my eyes "flooded with water". The doctor had to wipe my eyes, and he really had to look deeper into them than he would for most people.
Now getting to my point, I explained that I got a MacBook in mid-June and I explained how long I used it for. He told me I needed glasses for distance, and that my vision is only going to get progressively worse, and that with in the next 3 years I am going to change prescriptions a lot. He also explained that the Apple computers glossy screen destroyed my eyes. In about 3 to 4 years I am going to have to get laser eye surgery if I want to see. Otherwise, I won't be seeing anything anymore. He said that this is the "perfect opportunity to sue apple for destroying my vision, because that's what their product did." Let me state, that I have no interest in suing them. The brightness of the glossy LCD burned my eyes, to hell.
My advice to you is if your eyes start to hurt, go away from the computer, don't fight it. I'm paying for that now. I hate my new vision so much it is insane.
The doctor ended the visit with "You lost your vision to an Apple computer, a product this world is so fond of. Just think of what it is doing to their eyes. I find a lot of my patients that use Apple computers have worse vision than PC users. It's something in their screens, I tell you."
www.julietheblogger.com
Julie Mar 6, 2010 at 10:56 PM
Reader Comments (16)
bull
bull indeed. he's just a hater. maybe it's that mac users don't hate their computers, and spend more time using them as a result?
This is the 2nd most outrages thing ive ever heard.
Have you ever heard of not watching to much tv, because it's bad for you?
Well its the same on any device. pc, mac, tv, xbox360.
why dont you do some research before you try and say that apple computers messed up your vision. You should have not been on so much! or buy an external monitor so its bigger. 13.3 inches is small
For some reason, I don't believe this..
"patients that use Apple computers have worse vision than PC users."
WTF
This is bull. Hilariously so. CRT screens and Tube TVs are far glossier than Apple's glossy screens are in the first place.
The glossy screen isn't doing anything, it's just not diffusing and scattering the light making the colours more saturated and accurate.
This is the stupidest article I've ever read.
"I began getting eye pain" Check
"Somedays, my eyes would begin to water, as soon as I watched my MacBook boot up" Check I was using a CRT though and not a MacBook (those old monitors)
"my eye pains begin to be come a regular thing. I'd have them everyday, all day long. No matter where I looked" Check
"My eyes would fill up with water multiple times a day." Check
I had most of these symptoms (if not all).
here's my story:
I went to the opticians and got glasses because my eyes hurt while looking at the monitor .About 2 or 3 month's in of wearing glasses I smashed them up. I then ordered a newer monitor (I think it's an LCD) and my eye's haven't been bad since I have been using it.
I did go back and ask if I should get glasses again or not they said it's up to you so I said no.
Haven't had glasses or been back there since. I think I am due to an appointment soon (not sure if they booked me in or not) as long as I am happy with what I see I am not going back there.
Maybe you will be lucky. Do any of your family wear glasses?
I actually HAVE to agree with this post completely.
I got my first Mac, a MacBook late 2006 model, and yes, it was glossy. My eyesight wasn't really changing before then at all; it was just fine. 3 months after I got the computer I had to get glasses.
Now I don't now for a fact that it was my MacBook or just simply me using the computer a ton more than previous years, but to me it seems like it came from that glossy display. Last september got a new MacBook Pro MATTE display, and my eyes are a lot less strained after a long period of time. A couple of weeks ago my dad got one of the new iMac's. I love using them, but I miss that anti-gloss feature of my MacBook Pro.
I do think it's the glossy part of a Mac's display that make your eyes strain. But I don't see it as a perfect reason to sue Apple; they aren't the only ones out there who use glossy displays.
*reads other comments*
You guys are way to positive about Apple. Yes, the post is a bit more (possibly) sarcastic, but there's no evidence proving this wasn't the cause. (and I hate PC's, so get that out of your mind)
Thank you for sharing your stories. I really appricate it that you posted your stories. It's nice to know their are other people who can say this happened to them. And for your information my doctors exam room had mac mini connected to an LCD pc display montior. He said it was a particular brand that is good for the eyes. I am 100% freedom of speech but let's not fight.
I`m using a 13.3in macbook pro GLOSSY DISPLAY!! and i have never had any problems with my eyes and the screens glossiness (sorry if this sounds bad but im just tired)
I sometimes get eye strain from over use of my regular LG LCD monitor, but nothing that severe.
I honestly don't understand why "glossy" screens would make a difference overall. And if "glossy" is speaking of glass covered, I'll take blindness over regular LCD. Cleaning it easily is so worth that.
Maybe you should have turned the brightness down...? I had a macbook for about 2 years and only even ran it at half brightness. Since I upgraded to an iMac about a month ago i've been running that at about 1/4 brightness. And I don't think you have any grounds to sue Apple when you were not smart enough to realise you could turn the brightness down.
It's true that any computer used for any amount of time daily can cause eye trouble. I always had perfect vision until I got my first PC at age 11. Until this year I had never owned an Apple Computer. Honestly, it's just something you have to choose. I don't regret a moment spent on my computers, but I have even met photographers who have talked with me and they ask me if I spend a lot of time online, I say yes, and then they say,"That explains the glasses" and they have them too. It's no secret that staring at a bright screen for long periods of time could cause eye problems.
Wouldn't it just have made more sence when your eyes started hurting to turn down the brightness or just not use it?
Shut the fuck up everyone!!! It's just a blog post. Stop acting like fucking 3 year olds!!!!!!!!! >:(
This post actually surprised me. Ever since I got an iMac in my room (which has a glossy display) I have had the same problem. Everyone else saying that this article is bull is just stupid
its just natural selection baby! If your eyes cant handle it, they were not made for it.