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Pause Me – Apply the 20-20-20 rule to prevent eyestrain while working
- hamparawa 11y agoWould like to see multiple screen support too..
- qwerty69 11y agoThanks for the feedback. Multi-Screen support has been added.
- anon4 11y agoImplementation for Linux: #!/bin/bash set -e while true; do sleep 20m xlock -allowaccess& pid=$! sleep 20s kill $pid done Check the manpage for xlock and choose a screensaver that won't keep you looking at the monitor.
- butwhy 11y agoExplanation? DOes it just lock the screen for 20 secs?
- ssharp 11y agoI accidentally did something similar quite a few years ago when I stupidly set up a grep to run updatedb every two hours. There was several months lag as well between when I did that and my computer started locking up every two hours for a few minutes. And embarrassingly, it took me a week or two to put it together.
- ssharp 11y ago*stupidly set up a cron
- darkr 11y agoIf you're using Xscreensaver instead of xlock: #!/usr/bin/env bash set -e while true; do sleep 20m xscreensaver-command -activate sleep 20s xscreensaver-command -deactivate done This presumes that xscreensaver is configured to have a delay before it is locked (and thus requiring a password to unlock - as would happen if we used `xscreensaver-command -lock`).
- naich 11y agoHas the 20-20-20 rule actually been scientifically verified as the optimal regime for relieving eye strain or was it something thought up by some bloke off the top of his head?
- drwl 11y agoI wasn't able to find any conclusive evidence, but there are studies that have shown that taking breaks and changing the distance of what you're focusing on (things that the 20-20-20 rule suggests to do) can help improve eye strain. One study: http://www.ajronline.org/doi/pdf/10.2214/ajr.184.2.01840681 http://www.ajronline.org/doi/pdf/10.2214/ajr.184.2.01840681
- iM8t 11y agoAnything similar for OSX?
- castell 11y agoThanks a lot, it seems simple and useful.
- anupshinde 11y agoI have experienced that eyes strain much lesser while using a LCD display instead of an LED display. Experienced this pretty much consistently. LEDs start hurting my eyes after some time. And I use a MBP with Retina display for long hours - and I have to say, it has never put stress on my eyes at all (unless I make the screen too bright). Also I do not work at super-high small font resolutions - that allows me to keep distance from the screen. The only thing that I find better than it is Kindle reader.
- geococcyxc 11y agoYour MBP contains what is commonly called an "LED" display - an LCD with LED backlight.
- castell 11y agoDo you mean a LCD display with fluorescent tube as light source, instead of an LCD display with an LED as light source? Your MacBookPro with Retina display uses an LCD with LED light source too - it's just an LCD panel with IPS technology instead of the TN technology (common in cheaper desktop monitor panels).
- emsy 11y agoI hate HN lately. Now you can get downvoted for your personal experience. Take my upvote.
- anupshinde 11y agoAh. Thanks castell, geococcyxc, emsy. I didn't know what Retina display uses. I guess my experience is simply due to cheaper TN panels.
- yelnatz 11y agoIs this even usable as a developer? Seems it'll be annoying for something to break my concentration every 20 minutes, losing my flow all the time.
- anon4 11y agoI actually use a similar thing - I run a script that locks the screen every 30 minutes and take a short break. At first it can be a bit annoying, but it does reduce eye strain and improves overall well-being.
- henrik_w 11y agoI use RSIGuard (Mac), not for eye strain but for muscle pain in my forearms. I've set it up to give micro breaks (10 seconds) every 5 minutes and exercise breaks (4 minutes) every 45 minutes. It does break the flow, which is a bit of a pain, but not as much of a pain as I had in my arms :-) I've written more about how I got rid of my RSI here: http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-rsi/ http://henrikwarne.com/2012/02/18/how-i-beat-rsi/
- rmc 11y agoHaving pain in your wrists and fingers so you can't type, and not having the ability to focus on the screen, those things are very annoying for developers.
- dagw 11y agoI've been trying this concept for a few days and it's not that bad. It just forces me to stop typing and looking at my screen, not stop thinking or working on my problem, so it doesn't really affect my flow or concentration. It's actually kind of helpful to have to stop and think about what I'm doing.
- falcolas 11y agoFrom practical experience, the break in the flow is minimal: you lose your immediate context, not the entire structure you've built up in your mind. And the loss of context isn't always bad, as it's helped me figure out small problems or identify potential problems which I normally miss from being constantly heads down.
- sgloutnikov 11y agoOn the topic of eye strain. For anyone not familiar with f.lux, highly recommend you check it out. Everyone that I have recommended it to so far loves it. https://justgetflux.com https://justgetflux.com
- rosstex 11y agoMy eye strain ended permanently about 4 years ago, the day I installed f.lux. My eyes have never once felt strained at night after that day. Truly a miracle program.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- IanCal 11y agoThe only problem with f.lux is that it's so seamless it's like it's not running, so occasionally I'll turn it off accidentally and it feels like looking into the heart of a supernova.
- rmc 11y agoThere's also redshift, an open source version that works on linux.
- phorese 11y agoAnd for Android, there's "Twilight" :) Wonderful tools
- spain 11y agoI recommend f.lux too. The only problems I've encountered with it are: - doesn't take into account wacky sun hours in nordic countries during winter, I get around this by setting my location to be somewhere else - isn't able to automatically detect when I'm playing a fullscreen videogame, when I would prefer it automatically switch off
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- brainyz 11y agoThere is also a Chrome App called Eye Care. It has slightly more flexibility and runs on Win/Mac/Linux https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/eye-care/ingonfahmmfgbamnahjpkccllhpmidcp?hl=en&gl=001 https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/eye-care/ingonfahm... +1 for f.lux
- giraj 11y agoAnother alternative is Melatonin[1] which tries to imitate f.lux for chrome(book) users. [1] https://giraj.github.io/melatonin https://giraj.github.io/melatonin
- rmc 11y agoWorkrave is a great cross platform application for doing this.
- fmsf 11y agoSounds incredibly disruptive: http://heeris.id.au/2013/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-interrupt-a-programmer/ http://heeris.id.au/2013/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-interrupt-... After 20 minutes, when you may finally be reaching flow... "POP"... Using coloured glasses works for me to limit eye strain.
- SCdF 11y agoI have RSI and use Workrave to force me to take a 30 second break (where I stand up and stretch etc usually) every 10 minutes and a 5 minute break every hour of typing (which, since software development is a lot of discussing and thinking as well as just typing, doesn't usually mean it comes up every hour). You get used to it, and I honestly don't think it disrupts any kind of flow. That cartoon is about disrupting you with some other information, not with a break.
- rdsubhas 11y agoBetter POP flow now than POP eyes later.
- lpsz 11y agoI've found f.lux indispensable for long hours of computer work, be it coding or reading. Surprised when I find friends who haven't installed it (or an alternative) yet -- this stuff should be standard, especially on incredibly bright-screen Macs. If you're on Linux, try Redshift instead. When will something like this be available on my non-jailbroken iPhone? Heck, maybe someone could make a third-party browser app that tints itself ... turning down the brightness is just not the same.
- ishansharma 11y agoSurprised when I find friends who haven't installed it (or an alternative) yet And here, I am ridiculed for using Flux. Some marketing people just hate it. One co-worker has me disabling it anytime he has to look at my monitor (not much, but still an annoyance!)
- CSDude 11y agoEven CyanogenMod has something like flux and it helps.
- kranner 11y agoIf you use this, you might as well take the opportunity to stand up every 20 minutes.
- mparramon 11y agoI use Time Out for OS X, works like a charm: http://www.dejal.com/timeout/ http://www.dejal.com/timeout/