Tag Archives: computers

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5 Tips to Relieve Computer Eye Strain

posted by Terri Hall, Care2

Weary, sore eyes after a couple of hours, not to mention a workday on the computer, are a common reality for many. Add to that the leisure hours spent online, engaging social media, or looking at a smart phone screen, and it’s no mystery why this is a growing condition, according to the American Optometric Association. This condition even has a medical name: Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). In addition to eye strain, people who suffer from CVS often also suffer from headaches, dry and irritated eyes, and fatigue.

With so many professions being computer dependent, it’s nearly impossible for most folks to decrease the time they spend staring at a screen. So, what can you do to protect your vision?

  1. Proper lighting: Whether reading a book or an illuminated digital screen, a desk lamp aimed at your workspace helps minimize eye strain.
  2. Proper positioning: Setting your computer in a position so that you are looking downward several inches tends to be the most comfortable for the eyes. Also, try to minimize the amount of glare and reflections from lights or windows picked up by your screen.
  3. Blink: It’s easy to get so caught up in what’s on our monitors that we stare excessively and forget to blink normally. Yet, the tears that wash over our eyes when blinking help prevent irritation and drying. So, try to be aware of whether or not you’re blinking and blink frequently.
  4. Take regular breaks: If possible take a break from the screen every 20-30 minutes, looking at something more distant for half a minute or so. This shift in focus engages other eye muscles and gives the ones focusing on your monitor some time to relax.
  5. Eye exercises: There are a number of exercises you can do to strengthen your eye muscles, including making figure eights with your eyes while keeping your head straight. Another exercise that requires you to alternate the focus of your eyes (thus engaging different muscles) is a little trickier: Point your index fingers toward each other, about an inch apart. Hold them about eight inches away from your eyes at eye level. Look over your fingers at a distant object while still visually being aware of your fingers. If you’re doing it right, you will see a little “hot dog” floating between your two fingers (can take a few tries to get it.) Refocus your eyes on your fingers. Repeat several times.
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Multitasking Muddles Brains, Even When the Computer Is Off

By Brandon Keim, Wired Science


Image: Flickr/TotalAldo

Some people suspect that a multitasking lifestyle has changed how they think, leaving them easily distracted and unable to concentrate even when separated from computers and phones. Their uneasiness may be justified.

In several benchmark tests of focus, college students who routinely juggle many flows of information, bouncing from e-mail to web text to video to chat to phone calls, fared significantly worse than their low-multitasking peers.

Other studies have focused on multitasking’s immediate effects — children doing worse on homework while watching television, office workers being more productive when not checking email every five minutes.

“We wanted to ask a different question,” said Clifford Nass, a Stanford University cognitive scientist. “What happens to people who multitasking all the time?”

In a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nass and Stanford psychologists Anthony Wagner and Eyal Ophir surveyed 262 students on their media consumption habits. The 19 students who multitasked the most and 22 who multitasked least then took two computer-based tests, each completed while concentrating only on the task at hand.

First, they had to remember the briefly glimpsed orientations of red rectangles surrounded by different numbers of blue rectangles. In the second task, they were asked to categorize a random string of words, and then to do it again without categorizing words that were preceded by a beep.

In a third test, a different group of 30 high- and low-multitaskers were asked to identify target letters on a screen. As the test was repeated, they had to remember whether letters had also been targeted in earlier trials.

In every test, students who spent less time simultaneously reading e-mail, surfing the web, talking on the phone and watching TV performed best.

“These are all very standard tasks in psychology,” said Nass. “In the first, there’s lots of evidence that if people do poorly, they have trouble ignoring irrelevant information. For the second task, there are many demonstrations that this is a good reflection of people’s ability to organize things in their working memory. The third task shows how fast and readily people switch from doing one thing to another.”

As for what caused the differences — whether people with a predisposition to multitask happen to be mentally disorganized, or if multitasking feeds the condition — “that’s the million dollar question, and we don’t have a million dollar answer,” said Nass.

Wagner next plans to use brain imaging to study the neurology of multitasking, while Ness wants to look at the development of multitasking habits in children.

“The causality question is enormous here,” he said. “There’s a lot of social pressure to multitask. You’re getting tweets, e-mails, IMs from multiple people at once, and the web offers unbelievable opportunities for text and video. It may be thrust upon you.”

Citation: “Cognitive control in media multitaskers.” By Eyal Ophira, Clifford Nass, and Anthony D. Wagner. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106 No. 33, August 25, 2009.

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These are so cute!

OK, I admit I’m a sucker for geeky accessories. And I like to have a neat desk area and office space. So, when I saw these cables I was really impressed with…their cuteness…of course. It’s not hard to be green, or orange, or aqua…pick your color.


Cable Snails

With the new LaCie Flat Cables designed by item, it’s easy to find the interface you need. Our new range includes seven different interfaces: USB A to B; USB A to Mini B; USB A male to A female; FireWire 400 to FireWire 400; FireWire 400 to FireWire 800; FireWire 800 to FireWire 800; and eSATA to eSATA. Each cable is perfect for connecting of your external devices, such as hard drives, CD/DVD writers, printers, cameras, and cell phones. The LaCie Flat Cables come in different colors according to their interfaces, and a fun, whimsical design by item, a French design firm, ensures that they’ll make a statement on your desktop. Since the cables are flat, they are easy to coil and to carry—you’ll never have to deal with another tangle of wires behind your desk or in your laptop bag! Each cable comes with 24 adhesive labels, so you can customize your cables and always know which device is plugged in.

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It’s Play Time!

While it’s sometimes necessary to put your nose to the grindstone, the magic happens when you just let go. Here’s how one workaholic does it.
Written by Colleen Wainwright on April 2, 2009

Originally published in communicatrix | focuses, a monthly newsletter; reprinted here under a Creative Commons license.

Last month, I went to one walloping, not-inexpensive, wholly elective, whiz-bang of a conference—South by Southwest Interactive—and if I have my way, I’ll do a lot more so-called foolhardy things like that.


Ma Papanek Miller

Why? Because while focused, nose-to-the-grindstone activity is necessary, and definitely produces results of a certain kind, the magic happens when you just let go.

I get that “letting go” is hardly the modus operandi du jour. When times get challenging (and boy howdy, do these ever qualify), many of us default to one of two modes that reside at opposite ends of the spectrum: overwork or checking out.

I know; I do it, too.

I also know that in either of those modes, my ability to connect effectively with other people—to express myself clearly, to stay open and sensitive to the nuances of expression that mean the difference between TALKING and UNDERSTANDING—is hampered. When I’m wound up in work mode or vegged out in escape mode, there’s no room for the unquantifiable but undeniable excellence that can happen when I’m relaxed, refreshed and open, the way I was in Austin a few weeks ago.

Conversely, when I clear a little psychic and physical space for things to happen, I end up with the most rewarding meetings, the richest writing, the best performances (or, these days, speaking engagements). Preparation, groundwork, due diligence are all important, but they’ll only take you so far: improv brings you the rest of the distance, and as any good musician or actor (or painter, or dancer, or thinker, or or or) will tell you, improv happens when you play.

Fair warning: this is a huge work-in-progress for me. I seem to be wired for work; a friend who pointed me towards the Enneagram correctly pegged me as a “3,” which is basically shorthand for “Happiest When Working A** Off.” Oh, well.

Because I am a “three,” I have found both some ways to trick myself into playing, and ways to make a little room for the play itself.

1. Schedule a playdate from your list of same.
Oh, how embarrassing this one is. But it works. Somewhere in your life, there are a few people you really click with. You know: the kind where you pick up the phone to say “hi” and end up gabbing for two hours. I found myself avoiding picking up the phone to call certain people because I feared we wouldn’t have time; now I schedule them in. Yes, phone calls.

If you can, try scheduling in a real, live, in-person date with one of those rejuvenating souls at least every three weeks. I have mine staggered: a breakfast every month or so with my Enneagram friend; EstroFest with my creative lady-circle (five years, going strong!); Houston’s burger-and-veggie run with an old improv buddy every few months, etc.

2. Sign up for a class that has nothing (obvious) to do with work
The sneaky trick? Everything has to do with work in one way, especially if you’re a creative type. (I’m always telling my actor pals to read up on kayaking if they want to learn about acting.) Answers often come to us when we’re not actively working on them. A class in something else can loosen you up to do better work on your regular tasks.

And yes, money is an issue for everyone, especially these days. But via the magic of public libraries and rec centers, community colleges, adult night school, barter, and the like, there’s always a way. If things are really dire near you, check out a book or a video class on DVD from your library and DIY-it, alone or with a buddy.

3. 10 minutes per day of…
Yes, I’ve brought this up before, in the context of developing a new habit. But the beauty of the 10-minute time chunk is that even the most time-miserly among us is generally willing to cough up 10 minutes per day to do something extracurricular.

If you’ve still got an iron grip on your own body and brain, consider devoting the mental space available during your ablutions, laundry-folding, or other mindless-but-necessary tasks to daydreaming. If you ride public transit, put your earphones in but don’t play your iPod. If you drive by yourself to work, turn off the radio and sing — either an existing song, one you make up as a parody lyric, or something completely original. Walking the dog is good free time, too.

*****

I have a feeling we’re all going to need as much play as possible in the months to come. If you have any great ways you’ve discovered to squeeze in play, or have discovered other great resources (my friend, Gretchen, has a Web site full of great tips on the subject), please let me know via email or the contact form, and I’ll see about putting together some kind of permanent resource page.

Thanks, and stay loose, baby!