F.lux save your eyes but does it work?

[OP SuperKid 85]

I was wondering if anybody uses and seen any actual results in use F.lux (http://stereopsis.com/flux/) I use my computer late at night quite a lot and the lighting in the room I use my iMac is not great. Although the iMac does adjust its brightness to the ambient lighting in the room I was wondering if this program actually does help your eyes late at night.

[azspeedbullet 24]

I use it for windows and i notice it helps me sleep at night after being on the pc for hours on end

[kalkal 390]

Try it!

To be honest, the weird colours annoy me but in theory the app should work. Seeing a lot of cool blue light can affect your eyesight and sleep patterns if it's at a time that it wouldn't ordinarily be daylight.

[Geoffrey B. 1,414]

a friend mine swears by it (he is a developer) and he will be up late working on code.

I personally cannot stand it because it yellows out what I am working on.

[Charisma 2,387]

I just started using it about a week ago and I love it. It seems weird and "red" at first, but that's the point, red light doesn't interfere with melatonin production and sleep and stuff. I no longer have that painful squinty moment if it's dark and I come back to the PC, because it doesn't blind me with the full spectrum anymore. It does have the option to easily disable if you're working on something colour-sensitive. Highly recommend.

[-T- 605]

I swear by it on my ipad, I wasn't aware it existed on desktop platforms, but can only imagine it's a good thing there too

[XerXis 249]

I tried it to improve my sleeping habbits, but I couldn't get used to the color.

[billyea 198]

How to know that f.lux works:

1) Use f.lux for a week.

2) Disable f.lux at 11 pm

3) Be blinded by the intensity of your suddenly very-blue screen.

Before flux, your eyes endured that every night.

[Renvy 0]

set the at night mode on 4000k at first. I installed secretly on my mom's pc and set the gradient to 1 hour. She never noticed it.

a friend mine swears by it (he is a developer) and he will be up late working on code.

I personally cannot stand it because it yellows out what I am working on.

There's a mode where you can disable it for an hour in case you're an artist or something.

[GarakObama 8]

I have night mode at 4200k. It the difference in color was noticeable at first but not once I got used to it.

I don't think I've ever seen an attempt at doing a study on the effectiveness of the program though. It could the placebo effect everybody is experiencing like those magic bracelets..

[Arceles 403]

I use it constantly to read a lot of pdfs... just put the "disable for an hour" option and see how it hurts the eyes when there is to little light and screen is at max bright.

[StrikedOut 113]

Just installed it on my work PC and like it so far (tis dark here) will try it on my PC at home, will be interesting to see how it goes.

[Knife Party 630]

just tried it, wow its so orange ?!

[Shadrack 601]

I have f.lux on my jailbroken iPhone 4 and I love it. After using it for awhile, it seems like non-corrected screens at night are bright florescent blue bulbs. I believe it does help me fall asleep faster (in that using a non-corrected screen at night kept me up longer).

[HawkMan 5,011]

OR you could all just run your screens at the proper warm color setting instead of the terrible wrong colors cold setting every monitor, OS and tv is set to by septa dared today.

Turn down contrast, turn down brightness, set to warm color. Enjoy comfortable proper colors n your screen.

[ndoggfromhell 34]

Installed on my work mac (when it turns on I know i've got 30 minutes left in my work day) and I have it running at home. Definitely helped my eyes a lot. Been using for 5 months and wouldn't do without it.

[Shadrack 601]

OR you could all just run your screens at the proper warm color setting instead of the terrible wrong colors cold setting every monitor, OS and tv is set to by septa dared today.

Turn down contrast, turn down brightness, set to warm color. Enjoy comfortable proper colors n your screen.

It does seem that the whole industry is trying to convince me that blue is the new white....

[rand0m.bullet 18]

Use it for a week and then at like 10pm disable it and you'll soon understand why it helps lol. I love it - installed at work and home.

[Shadrack 601]

How to know that f.lux works:

1) Use f.lux for a week.

2) Disable f.lux at 11 pm

3) Be blinded by the intensity of your suddenly very-blue screen.

Before flux, your eyes endured that every night.

This. Well said.

[Shadrack 601]

I have night mode at 4200k. It the difference in color was noticeable at first but not once I got used to it.

I don't think I've ever seen an attempt at doing a study on the effectiveness of the program though. It could the placebo effect everybody is experiencing like those magic bracelets..

No, I wouldn't describe it as a placebo. People who use it are always struck by the odd colors at first but then they find that they like the adjustment into the evening. If someone "likes" what it is doing, and it is doing *something*, then it will have net-positive effect and that can't be chalked up as placebo.

If installing f.lux didn't make an obvious change at all to anything but claimed to do something and people agreed that it did "something" then that might be placebo.

How effective is it for sleep patterns? Idk exactly. I think it helps but it is probably hard to isolate. As other have said, use it for a week, turn it off and make observations about how your eyes feel. When I do that, my eyes feel more stressed looking at the default white balance than the adjusted white balance f.lux provide. That's not a placebo, that is real nerves firing in my eyes and sending signals to my brain.

[insomniac9 13]

I've installed it on my laptop, will be installing it at work tomorrow. I will use it for a few weeks to see if my eyes feel less strained than they are usually.

[Detection 2,256]

It makes my screen look like an old CRT that some old guy has smoked 60 a day in front of

Easier on the eyes, yes, easier on the brain, no.

Plus my LCD doesn't have great viewing angles so the top looks brown and the bottom looks yellow

[MikeChipshop 3,118]

OR you could all just run your screens at the proper warm color setting instead of the terrible wrong colors cold setting every monitor, OS and tv is set to by septa dared today.

Turn down contrast, turn down brightness, set to warm color. Enjoy comfortable proper colors n your screen.

I'm a designer, my monitor is calibrated exactly as it should be and this program makes a hell of a difference at night when the computer is used for development or reading. Couldn't live without it. If i hit the disable for an hour button now, i can feel my eyes reel back in horror.

[Seketh 107]

I've been using it for over a year now and it's one of the first apps I download on a new Windows install.

If it's excessively yellow, just bring it up to 4300k (fluorescent). It depends on the monitor you use it on. Also, for new users, change the setting from 20 seconds to 60 minutes, it's easier on the eyes the first few days.

It's definitely not placebo though, the difference is quite dramatic after using it for an extended period, I am now unable to live without it.

(Maybe I'll just try to disable it for a second and see if it's still workinokopol?,iasdf?oasdmfsa OH GOD IT BURNS!)

[The_Decryptor 1,105]

It does seem that the whole industry is trying to convince me that blue is the new white....

You're supposed to set the temperature of your monitor to match the ambient lighting, warm matches incandescent bulbs (that turn everything yellow) and cool should match the colour of daylight (and fluorescent lighting if you got the right bulbs).

That said, on my monitor "normal" matches daylight while cool does turn everything slightly blue, so I just don't think they have any idea.