Blue light is a color in the visible light spectrum that can be seen by human eyes. It’s made up of blue-violet light, LED blue light, and blue-turquoise light. While the eyes do a good job of filtering other forms of light, they aren’t as good at filtering blue-violet light. This means that more blue light can pass through your eye to the retina1.

Though blue-violet light primarily comes from the sun, artificial blue-violet light can be projected from the digital screens of smartphones, tablets, computers and TVs.

Digital devices fit so naturally into our daily lives that it's easy to forget how "unnatural" it is for our eyes to stare at a digital display for hours. With the increased use of these devices, we are exposed to more blue-violet light overall from both natural and artificial sources.

The average screen time in the U.S. is over seven hours per day³. If you're using a digital device for more than two hours at a time, practice these habits to help ease the effects of blue-violet light and avoid digital eye fatigue:

• Break up your screen time. Make the 20-20-20 rule a habit. Every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break to look at something 20 feet away.
• Revamp your workstation. You should be close enough to high-five the screen. Sit in your chair and extend your arm so your palm is resting comfortably on the monitor; it should be about 20 to 26 inches away. Good posture prevents an achy back, shoulders and neck.
• Adjust your screen position. Reduce computer eye fatigue by positioning the screen directly in front of your face — never tilted — and slightly below eye level.
• Get the right lighting. Reduce overhead and surrounding light; it competes with your screen and makes your eyes work harder to see. Use indirect light sources to reduce glare.
• Personalize your computer display settings. Bump up the text size and adjust the screen brightness. You can even adjust the color temperature to reduce the amount of blue-violet light emitted by a color display.
• Blink often. Remind yourself to blink to reduce dryness in your eyes. This is one of the most important tips. Breathe. Blink. Breathe. Blink.
• Do not take phones and tablets to bed. Avoid using digital devices an hour before trying to sleep. The blue-violet light from your phone's display may keep you awake.
• Get an eye exam. Be sure to tell your doctor how much time you spend in front of a computer or device. Your eye doctor can evaluate any symptoms of digital eye fatigue and discuss lens options or lifestyle changes to avoid future discomfort.
• Get blue-violet light filtering. Glasses with blue-light-filtering lenses are available with or without a prescription to help reduce reflections.

Many adults who use digital devices regularly and experience eye discomfort do little, if anything, to ease their symptoms. Schedule an eye exam to make sure you're doing everything you can to reduce digital eye fatigue symptoms associated with blue-violet light exposure.

1. What is blue-violet light? Eyesafe. Accessed December 2022
2. Living with blue-violet light exposure. Review of Optometry. September 2019.
3. Alarming average screen time statistics (2023). Exploding Topics. January 2023.