Living in less colour: How grayscale setting can safeguard your eye health

Screens, whether at work or home, have become impossible to avoid.

While you may find yourself rubbing your eyes a little longer after looking at a screen all day, medically, bright colours are not harmful or damaging to your eyesight.

Mike Wills talks to specialist ophthalmologist Dr Pieter van der Merwe on whether adjusting your screen’s setting to grayscale can help protect your eyes.

Colour is an incentive to look at the screen for longer, which can strain eye muscles, explains van der Merwe.

So, obviously when you are looking at a screen at some bright colours, you like looking at it more. For that reason, if you have a screen that’s got all those colours on it, it’s going to be something you are going to return to while the grayscale setting is something that is obviously less aesthetically pleasing.

Dr Pieter Van Der Merwe, Specialist ophthalmologist – Atlantic Eye Centre in Foreshore and Blaauwberg

Blinking decreases when eyes are fixed on a screen, from 15 blinks per minute down to five, he says.

Therefore, setting your phone’s display to grayscale can help lower the time spent scrolling.

Other methods of taking care of your eyes, include reminding yourself to blink more and lubricating your eyes with drops while using the device.

Listen to the full audio above.

This article first appeared on CapeTalk : Living in less colour: How grayscale setting can safeguard your eye health