Commentary

Save Me From The Intrusion Of LCD Backlit Screens

Digital screens are taking over the world.

Specifically, LCD backlit screens are taking over the world.

In my home, we have an old Sony Dash Internet appliance in our kitchen, which we use to stream Flickr photos, Pandora and Netflix movies.

In our theater room, we have an old Android Droid smartphone we use as a streaming radio player, and a Roku television remote control. Of course, we also have our big LCD movie screen.

We also have a few tablets around the house.

I have a couple Macbooks and a PC notebook, between work and home.

In each of our two cars, we have GPS screens.

Finally, I have my Android smartphone, an HTC Evo.

I’m probably missing a few screens I encounter intimately each day.

You may say “no big deal,” but I have a problem with them.

They’re subtly encroaching on our lives. Without a doubt, there are two to three times as many digital LCD screens in my home and daily personal life as there were two years ago. And ubiquity is happening because backlit LCD screens are landing not only on devices whose sole purpose is viewing, but on devices that clearly don’t need them -- like household appliances, for example.

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My beef with the growing presence of LCD backlit screens is that each one of them glows and clamors for my attention. Moreover, if one does get my attention, each one of them has a wealth of programming and functionality to hold my attention. If you can’t learn to filter out screens, their shallow blinking stimuli and hyperlinking mazes will erode your productivity and focus.

Heck, it’s a fact that sitting in front of LCD screens all day makes you fat and unhealthy. Long durations of focus on LCD screens ruin your eyes. Parents who spend too much time with their screens -- versus speaking with their infants -- disadvantage their kids’ verbal development. LCD backlit screens are certainly most intrusive in the bedroom -- where the purpose is sleep (or some other things adults do that don’t need LCD backlit distraction). I’m not sure we understand the full health impact of LCD backlit screens and devices. But their presence continues to grow, as does their not-yet-understood health impact.

There’s one screen I purposefully omitted from the list above: my Kindle Touch with its E-Ink display.

The Kindle content functionality aside, I find the E Ink display with white- and-black pigments and no backlighting to be not only easier on my eyes, but easier on my brain. I’m not a psychologist and I’ve not researched this topic extensively, though here’s how I explain it: Compared to a backlit LCD screen that attempts to grab my brain’s attention, over-stimulate and create anxiety, the E Ink displays words and pictures in a subtle fashion that lends itself to more relaxed and focused cognition.

The Kindle is the one electronics device I really want my kids to engage deeply with.

As such, it would be great to see electronics manufacturers emphasize E Ink displays and forego the backlit LCD ones. Most devices and appliances are best if they simply do what they’re supposed to do, and don’t distract. If a device does require viewing attention, it would be far better off by demanding attention in a more subtle way that induces calming focus, like an E Ink display.

My prediction. There will be an LCD screen backlash within the next 10 years, resulting in a screen purging trend. While commoditization and technology is making them inexpensive and disposable, people will throw extraneous ones out and not welcome them back. Devices and appliance manufacturers will gravitate to simpler, smarter designs that are more sophisticated, without the obnoxious attention-grabbing LCD screens.

What do you think?

3 comments about "Save Me From The Intrusion Of LCD Backlit Screens".
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  1. Peter Platt from Accountable Digital, LLC, August 28, 2012 at 9:36 a.m.

    I wholeheartedly agree! I love reading on my original Kindle. I own a Kindle Keyboard and Fire as well, but still seem to go back to the original for most of my reading.

  2. Douglas Ferguson from College of Charleston, August 28, 2012 at 9:45 a.m.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/report-the-world-is-basking-in-the-light-of-glowing-rectangles/252120/

  3. Jen Mcgahan from MyTeamConnects, August 28, 2012 at 9:59 a.m.

    Hey Max, while the world is looking more and more like the Jetsons, you're right that many of us are craving a less frenetic environment. But you have to admit, those bright screens are popular because they are so riveting...marketers love'em because they demand our eyeballs and do something crazy with our brainwaves. Educators and parents and creatures of comfort do not!

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