I cannot properly enjoy dark mode on any device :((

[anon(10181084)]

So it all started out a few months ago last fall. I noticed that, even though I was wearing my glasses, white text on black in dark mode just didn't look quite as sharp as normal. Then an article came out saying that dark mode was problematic if you have astigmatism. Well BINGO! I happen to have a pretty bad case of astigmatism (one eye off by 1.75 diopters compared to the other one if I remember correctly) and only got glasses for it in August. Without glasses stuff is fuzzy and text is blurred/doubled, and glasses do help but dark mode still causes issues. I turned off dark mode on my cellphone and BOOM - the text was way clearer. Now don't get me wrong, I still use it when I am in extremely dark conditions combined with moderate screen dimming (excessive dimming combined with white theme annoys the hell out of me and makes my eyes feel weird likely due to the weird low duty cycle PWM dimming that AMOLED is notorious for). I also keep some individual apps in dark mode as their colorful UI is actually less readable with light mode or light mode affects readings of some sort due to the OLED consuming more power (Accubattery and Devcheck most notably). But using light mode actually makes long posts on Reddit, Android Central, and so on much much more readable. But of course this means that when I don't pre-set a device to dark mode (pretty much never do, LOL), I get blasted with white in pitch dark situations and have to change settings while being blinded.Not sure if it is connected to any of this, but I see halos around with logos on black screens on my OLED devices (especially my tablet).

 

[chanchan05]

Just use the schedule option for turning on dark mode.

 

[anon(10181084)]

Just use the schedule option for turning on dark mode.

Yeah but the problem is is that I don't want dark mode in night situations when I have enough artificial light (i.e. when at computer desk).

 

[chanchan05]

Yeah but the problem is is that I don't want dark mode in night situations when I have enough artificial light (i.e. when at computer desk).

Use Tasker then. Set it to turn night mode on at a certain level of ambient light using the light sensor on your phone.

 

[Rukbat]

I used to have the same problem with black text on a white background. (White text on a black background was a kind of grey screen - I couldn't even see that there were letters on it. And this was on a 24" screen!) Solution? NOTHING TO DO WITH COMPUTERS (at least, not the kind we use). Laser - LASIK. (I needed lens replacement for cataracts, and I had bad astigmatism, so the surgeon just did the correction without asking.) I only have 20/25 now, but that's due to the lenses, the astigmatism is in the "measurable but not enough for me to see" range.

But that's about all that could help. There are no glasses that make the black blacker, which is what you need. (I doubt that Amber sunglasses would help - you can try, but don't spend too much on them.)

 

[anon(10181084)]

I used to have the same problem with black text on a white background. (White text on a black background was a kind of grey screen - I couldn't even see that there were letters on it. And this was on a 24" screen!) Solution? NOTHING TO DO WITH COMPUTERS (at least, not the kind we use). Laser - LASIK. (I needed lens replacement for cataracts, and I had bad astigmatism, so the surgeon just did the correction without asking.) I only have 20/25 now, but that's due to the lenses, the astigmatism is in the "measurable but not enough for me to see" range.

But that's about all that could help. There are no glasses that make the black blacker, which is what you need. (I doubt that Amber sunglasses would help - you can try, but don't spend too much on them.)

My astigmatism is thank goodness not as bad as yours, but I also on a related note noticed that the system dark mode on my Samsung phone and tablet is NOT truly full pixel off black. It seems like they are trying to mildly simulate backlight bleed, and no it is not due to display degradation as far as I can see. This happens both on my Tab S3 (2.5 years old, no burn-in) and on my 5 month old S8 that has a bit of burn-in. Not sure why this non-perfect black happens. When I load up a non system app that has its own AMOLED black, it is perfect black. Weird and might be part of the issue with dark mode.

And also, does excessive usage of books and screens cause astigmatism to get worse? My astigmatism is genetic but my father tries to blame the fact that it got to the point of needing glass on my tech addiction.

 

[Almeuit]

I use the schedule on my iPhone. Dark at night.. normal during the day.