Towards the light.

Sunday, December 22, 2024

Recently I tried the dark mode on my Kindle for the first time since I have had it. It’s strange that I ever tried it at all, give that in the decade or more I have been using Kindles, it has never before occurred to me that dark mode maybe a viable option.

My verdict after an hour was this: Dark mode is awful. It’s a horrible way to read. The light text on the black backdrop makes the words lack definition and the whole thing feels oppressive.

Now, A Kindle is essentially a device with one purpose. It shows you words. If words are far, far worse in dark mode on the device which has one task, and its good at that task, then is there a chance that perhaps I have been wrong in my assessment of dark mode everywhere else?

As you know, I am a man who is not afraid to try new things. I went directly to my MacBook and pressed that ‘light mode’ button, for the first time. I then went to my phone and both my iPads and pressed the button for glorious sunshine! (Yes, I have, and use two iPads, don’t judge me!) 

Obviously, I hated it instantly. My computer didn’t feel like my computer and my phone felt like it had been factory reset. It just felt like things were failing to load correctly. It all felt wrong.

I ignored my inner petulance and kept on changing my applications to sunburn mode.

I sat all of yesterday morning feeling annoyed with my computer. It was like it had betrayed me somehow. I felt like I had taken a step back in ‘coolness’ and was betraying my cyberpunk dreams for a vista of white oppression.

But then, as the day went on, something happened.

I was feeling less eye strain and I didn’t even know I was getting eye strain before I changed! As the day went on, and I began working in lower light, it just felt more comfortable generally. I was still repulsed by the visuals, aesthetically. I just hate it. However, I have to admit, the light UI feels like less of focal point and the content feels like it just pops more. When I was writing I felt like the words were the main attraction, not the application assets.

I stuck with it and am now a day into my experiment.

I have no idea if it will ‘take’ long term, but I have to say, it does feel like it’s overall just easier to see, which makes me smile because I would have bee complaining about it being too bright a few years ago. Maybe it’s my 44 year old eyes and smaller screen size doing tricks. And, to be clear, light mode Discord looks literally broken!

I have always felt like people who use their computer in light mode were leaving it ‘stock,’ or didn’t know there was an option for something else. Now though, I have to re-evaluate this bias because they may be right to leave it the way it comes. Perhaps this is even why the default mode on most devices is the light mode. The manufacturers know, and, have been trying to tell us this entire time.

This isn’t to say I’m bashing dark mode in any way. I love the way it looks; dark mode is cool. I did some web searching (via DEVONAgent, because the web is dead to me… thats another topic though) and it does appear that there is no general medical, or specifically optometrical benefit to dark mode, there is a real benefit to correctly using brightness controls, but that seems to be separate to your preference in themes.

My plan at this time is to keep all my devices in light mode until the new year and then switch back and see if a major preference emerges. Honestly I’m rooting for darkness because I really like it, that said, if I can see more with less eye strain in light mode, I’ll use it.

Give light mode a try. Or, if you are already an advocate of the light side, drop a comment and let me know why. I would like to see as many opinions as possible regarding this.

I’ll update you in the new year.