{"id":27859,"date":"2020-01-14T20:21:35","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T01:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=27859"},"modified":"2020-11-27T13:33:16","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T18:33:16","slug":"the-dark-side-of-dark-mode-and-night-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/14\/the-dark-side-of-dark-mode-and-night-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dark Side of Dark Mode and Night Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam Engst<\/a> (tweet<\/a>, Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Apple’s marketing claims about Dark Mode’s benefits fly in the face of the science of human visual perception. Except in extraordinary situations, Dark Mode is not easy on the eyes, in any way. The human eyes and brain prefer dark-on-light, and reversing that forces them to work harder to read text, parse controls, and comprehend what you’re seeing.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

In the scientific literature, black on white is called “positive polarity,” whereas white on black is called “negative polarity.” Numerous studies over decades of research have found that positive polarity displays provide improved performance in a variety of areas.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

When there’s a mismatch between the two—the screen is too dim outside or too bright inside—it’s hard to look at. That’s why Apple implemented automatic brightness control in iOS (find it in Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations) to reduce the screen brightness when you’re reading in a dark bedroom and increase it when you’re trying to take a picture on a sunny day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

I haven’t personally found any use for Dark Mode on my Mac. I don’t like the way it looks, and it feels like it slows me down. I have always preferred light text on a dark background for code, though. My sense is that this is not because I like light-on-dark better than dark-on-light for the primary text, but rather because most of the other<\/em> colors work better on a dark background. With multi-color themes, the secondary colors tend to be easier to see on a dark background.<\/p>\n\n

I don’t like how Dark Mode looks on iOS, either, except that I’ve always preferred Tweetbot in dark. I also like to run OmniFocus in dark so that the screen isn’t so bright if I’m making a note at night. Automatic brightness control just doesn’t cut it.<\/p>\n\n

I continue to like Night Shift.<\/p>\n\n

Jonathan Wight<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Giving on up dark mode.<\/p>\n

Don’t like.<\/p>\n

I get double vision due to my eye condition on most text and in almost all dark mode implementations it’s far more pronounced.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a> found that Dark Mode helps with his eye condition.<\/p>\n\n

Chance Miller<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

These features are designed to change the temperature and color of your display based on what time of day it is. New research suggests, however, that features designed to reduce blue light before bedtime might not be as effective as initially thought.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n