Jan 12 2009
Why does the computer screen get away with it?!
When I was a kid, and I’m sure almost all of you close to my age will have experienced this, my mother, father, step-father, step-mother and just about everybody who thought they were allowed some lofty position of authority over a humble child, would scream at me about the dangerously precarious distance my eyeballs were from the TV screen -
” You’re sitting too close to the TV!!” They’d say. Or, “You’re going to go blind from sitting that close, dammit!!”
And this barrage was pretty well constant in my home. Like any child of the “Star Wars” generation, I wanted my images big, filling my whole view to the edges of my peripheral vision, whisking me away to far away places. No sooner would I be battling along-side the Incredible Hulk, than someone would break into my revelry with, ” You’re going to need glasses if you keep that up, and I’m not paying for them!!”
Face it - The TV screens of my childhood were fucking minuscule compare to today’s. Even those floor models, huge pieces of furniture with stereos built in, still had screens no larger than their shelf-mounted counterparts. And those floor models had to have designed with scores of floor-bound cross legged children in mind - pajama clad, bleary eyed moppets, absorbing the adventures of the Super-friends over bowls of multi-colored cereal.
Fast forward a couple of years, to the dawn of the home computer. Simple machines, not capable of much, maybe a few simple games, but fascinating none-the-less. Here’s the thing though, in order to look at the information being calculated and spit out by the computer, one had to look at a TV screen, no more distant to your eyes than maximum three feet.
So here is the question - What is the difference between a television screen and a computer screen? The answer - There isn’t one. They are both Cathode Ray Tubes. Their method of transmitting information is identical in every way.
One is connected to your cable, maybe your VCR, maybe your DVD etc, and the other is connected to your home computer. Aside from that, they are the exact same machine.
So, having never heard this from a parent, I’ll ask you - have you ever heard an adult say, “You’re sitting too close to the computer!!!”
Why not?! They are both Cathode Ray Tubes. They are both light sources that shouldn’t be altogether that close to your eyes. And yet, the computer gets away with it. He is the sneaky older brother who makes sure every inch of blame falls on you.
If you are at work, and hunched over your computer screen, people, your boss in particular, will observe this and think, “My! He’s working hard.” Never for one second would it occur to them that the distance from the screen you subject yourself daily could have some long-term effects.
Imagine you are working away, leaning into your computer screen, and suddenly your boss walks by, leaning over your shoulder, and shouts with panic-stricken tones, “What the hell are you doing?!! You’re leaning too close to your computer monitor! You’re gonna burn your eyeballs out! You’re crazy if you think this company is gonna pay for glasses!!!” And then, right afterwards, the sky would crack open and Angels would come pouring out…
Why the angels, you say? Because your fucking boss would never scold you for sitting too close to your computer!!! Like and onslought of heavenly hosts, the odds of your boss being concerned about your vision are equally impossible!!
Is it entirely possible that our parents merely hated what we liked to watch on TV, and had to yell at us periodically to remind us that, despite the fact that “Dukes of Hazzard” was playing on the TV, they were still in charge of the house? Truly, once the home computer was introduced, little girls and boys were relegated to their bedrooms, giving Moms and Dads plenty of quiet time with their “Thirty-something” and “LA law”.
Take a look at the sidebars of your computer - How many ads do you see daily for optical suppliers, glasses frames company, free eye exams? Probably around 30 a day. Why is that?
Because the computer pulled a fast one on every parent on planet Earth. It was never noisy enough to merit the attention of any parent, particularly any negative attention, and so it was ignored as any kind of threat to the household.
So, as I sit here, head a foot and a half away from this blinding light-source, wondering why this is allowed at all, there is still a corner in my head, a dormant inner child, waiting for the throaty scream of an annoyed adult, telling me to not sit so close, lest I burn my eyes out.
