No matter how you accessed this article, you’re reading it on a screen that produces blue light. Whether it’s your smartphone or a computer, blue light emitted from the surface is steadily streaming into your eyeballs. Don’t panic (or “x” out of the article). The team at Stoggles wants to help you understand the dangers of blue light and what you should do to keep your eyes safe.
While we’re spilling the tea about blue light, we’ll also cover reasons why you might need safety eyewear, even if you don’t think you do. Hint: every single person needs to wear protective eyewear, and by the time you finish this piece, you’ll understand why.
So sit back and scroll along with us as well talk about the best eyewear for computer use and beyond.
What’s the Big Deal With Blue Light?
We’ve been exposed to blue light since birth. The sun is the largest source of it, and it’s very similar to UV rays in that the rays are short and powerful. The problem with blue light today is that our exposure to them is more continual and pervasive.
Blue light is emitted from devices like computers, smartphones, tablets, LED televisions, and LED light bulbs. Unlike the sun, which can’t harm us when we go inside, blue light continues to sneak into our eyes when we’re using electronic devices or sitting under LED bulbs. It is the continual exposure to blue light that poses a real risk to our eye health, particularly how it affects the retinas.
The Retina
Located at the back of your eye, the retina is the OG of vision. It’s where the magic happens. Light gets collected and sent back to the retina, where it is turned into electrical signals and sent to the brain. The brain then interprets that data as sight.
The problem is that retinal cells are finite. When they’re damaged or destroyed, they don’t regenerate. We already know that UV rays can damage your retinal cells because UV rays can pass through the cornea and access the retina. Unfortunately, blue light can also reach your retina, but we don’t really know how much damage that blue light is doing.
While researchers have hypothesized that blue light damage could cause early-onset macular degeneration or lead to other vision-robbing conditions, long-term studies are still ongoing. What we do know is that blue light can interfere with your sleep patterns. It can also contribute to Computer Vision Syndrome, which can lead to eye strain, fatigue, and even headaches.
The solution? Protective eyewear that blocks blue light.
Blue Light Blocking Specs
When the team at Stoggles sees a safety of vision issue, we develop a solution. That’s why every pair of Stoggles comes standard with blue light-blocking lenses. These lenses protect your eyes from the intrusion of blue light from the sun and from blue light emitting devices and lights.
Blue light-blocking technology was just the start. We also outfit our eyewear with UV-protective lenses, so your eyes are safe both indoors and outdoors. Of course, we also make Stoggles with numerous other important benefits like:
- ANSI Z87.1-2020 certification. This is the gold standard for impact resistance, ensuring that your lenses can withstand weighted and high-speed impact.
- Anti-fog lenses. Fogging lenses are dangerous and annoying. Stoggles are made to stay fog-free even if you’re surveying swamp land in south Florida.
- Prescription friendly. Need safety eyewear with vision correction? We’ve got you covered. Upload your prescription on our website, and we’ll craft a customized pair of prescription Stoggles just for you.
- Impeccable style. Let’s face it, safety eyewear hasn’t ever topped the charts for being trendy, but Stoggles is changing the game. We offer our eyewear in trendy frame shapes (like cat eye and aviator) and in unexpected colors like pineapple, jade, and cold brew.
Vision protection and style combined? Absolutely. We realize, however, that some of us might be hard sells on vision safety — those middle school goggles left us with a bad taste in our mouths.
Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly overlooked professions that should be wearing protective eyewear.
Hey You, Protect Your Eyes
Sitting behind a desk all day doesn’t quite hit the same as being on a construction site. We understand. However, your eyes still feel the danger whether you’re operating a jackhammer or creating (yet another) slide deck.
Let’s look at jobs that can secretly harm your eyes if you aren’t wearing protective glasses:
1. Tech Work
Whether you’re an automotive technician, a lab technician, or in any other line of work that has you going back and forth from your hands-on activities to some form of data entry on a computer or tablet, you need protective eyewear.
Already wearing safety glasses for the non-data entry portion of your job? Super!
For solid eye protection, make sure your eyewear blocks blue light. Leave those babies on while entering your lab findings or diagnostic diagnosis into the blue-light bleeding screen in your hand or on your desk.
2. Medical Professionals
A few months into your gig, you realize that ¾ of your job is data entry. Entering examination notes, lab findings, ordering tests, or charting patients at the end of your shift isn’t exactly your favorite part of the job, but you understand the need.
Just like the need for medical data entry exists, the need to protect your eyes outside of the exam room exists, too. Wearing safety eyewear that has blue light-blocking lenses can help protect your eyes from splashes, spills, splatters, and blue light.
3. Computer Gurus
Working behind a screen at a 9-5 begs for eye safety, and most desk jockeys aren’t using them. In addition to wearing blue light-blocking glasses, following the 20-20-20 rule is also helpful during intense screen exposure. The rule states that for every 20 minutes you focus on a screen, you take a 20-second break to focus on something 20 feet away from you.
Taking breaks while protecting your eyes from blue light can help you reduce eye strain and improve your feelings about your job.
4. Students
They’re full-time in the books, which means they’re probably half-time on the computer. Students are often eye-strain sufferers, and we can help them reduce their weary-eyed issues by making sure we send them off to school in style with blue-light-blocking eyewear.
Because Stoggles provide safety and style, you can be sure your student will actually wear them, which gives you just a little more peace of mind as you fold their last load of laundry and send them home after spring break. Plus, since the glasses are as comfortable as the pajamas they insist on wearing to visit their grandparents, your kid will actually want to wear them too.
5. Telecommuters
Regardless of how much time you are actually in front of your screen, telecommuting is prime real estate for safety eyewear. During every Zoom meeting and every check-in, your eyes are exposed to blue light. Taking the half-second required to slide on your Stoggles is easy, and the return on investment is astronomical; it could literally save your vision.
What About Fog?
Indoor and outdoor workers are often met head-on with lenses that continually fog. That’s why all Stoggles have anti-fog lenses that block blue light and resist fogging — no matter how frequently your work conditions change.
Thanks to our unique dip formula that we spent nine months perfecting, you’ll be fog free. Say goodbye to the short-lasting, splotchy spray anti-fog formulas. It’s not you; it’s them.
Stoggles: The Solution for Your Search
Stop Googling and start Stoggling. Our protective eyewear is the solution for protecting your eyes and keeping you feeling confident at the same time. We make it easy to have the eye protection you want with the style you also want. Keeping you sharply styled, incredibly comfortable, and very protected is our mission.
Sources:
How blue light affects your eyes, sleep, and health | UC Davis
Effects of ultraviolet light on the eye: role of protective glasses | PMC
The Color of the Light Affects the Circadian Rhythms | NIOSH | CDC