To your point about e-ink screens reducing eyestrain: white-on-black text may do the same thing. It’s reducing the light hitting your eyeballs by a factor of ten to a hundred. I’ve read books on a large phone screen in dark mode for a long time (since Kindle for smartphones has existed, I guess) and experienced zero perceptible eyestrain.
This has nothing to do with the distraction-reducing portion of your post, nor the handwriting notes portion.
There is much bikeshedding about eyestrain. I’ve seen convincing arguments, especially from older hackers, that a white background is actually less strainful for the eyes. I forgot what the arguments were—will write them down next time—but I don’t think it’s as simple as the amount of light hitting the eye. Currently I’d advise just trusting in personal experience.
And maybe experiment with increasing ambient light rather than reduce light from the screen.
Agreed that it’s not as simple as light hitting the eye. I’ve also tried to work on external monitors that are relatively far away for neutral focal distance. But I couldn’t find any good research or even theory on it.
FWIW, the majority of my book reading in white on black has been done in the dark in bed before sleeping, but at low contrast.
To your point about e-ink screens reducing eyestrain: white-on-black text may do the same thing. It’s reducing the light hitting your eyeballs by a factor of ten to a hundred. I’ve read books on a large phone screen in dark mode for a long time (since Kindle for smartphones has existed, I guess) and experienced zero perceptible eyestrain.
This has nothing to do with the distraction-reducing portion of your post, nor the handwriting notes portion.
There is much bikeshedding about eyestrain. I’ve seen convincing arguments, especially from older hackers, that a white background is actually less strainful for the eyes. I forgot what the arguments were—will write them down next time—but I don’t think it’s as simple as the amount of light hitting the eye. Currently I’d advise just trusting in personal experience.
And maybe experiment with increasing ambient light rather than reduce light from the screen.
Agreed that it’s not as simple as light hitting the eye. I’ve also tried to work on external monitors that are relatively far away for neutral focal distance. But I couldn’t find any good research or even theory on it.
FWIW, the majority of my book reading in white on black has been done in the dark in bed before sleeping, but at low contrast.