Blue Light Glasses Are Our New Favorite Accessory

The secret to better sleep and greater productivity? We’re officially fans. For anyone who missed it, we recently dug into why blue light from your phone, computer, and television causes fatigue, eye strain, and can even disrupt your sleep hormones. The solution? Blue light glasses. This new trend in eyewear helps protect your eyes from the disruptive effects of blue light exposure. We love the idea of a functional accessory, but how practical are they? Is it worth the investment? Will I have to look at the world through weird orange-colored glasses? To find out, four HUM employees put Pixel Eyewear‘s blue light glasses to the test. Here’s what we had to say about our experience.

How often do you look at computer screens?

Chloe

Since I work on HUM’s social media, the amount of time I spend looking at a screen is about 50 to 60 hours a week.

Joelle

I want to say a good 12 hours out of the day.

Sarah

I spend probably about four or five hours on my cell phone, and then probably another five hours on my computer. And then at night, I watch some TV. Oh God, my whole life is looking at this stuff!

Zena

I think all in all I’m probably spending 10 to 12 hours a day looking at blue light. Wow! That’s a lot… Yikes.

Do you currently experience any fatigue, insomnia, or eye strain?

Chloe

I totally experience eye strain. I can feel it every time I take a break away from the screen after a day of work and get home. And I’ve definitely been experiencing some headaches here and there.

Joelle

Definitely insomnia. I’m one of those late-night people that can’t go to sleep on their own. I need a TV or my phone to put me to sleep… something to bore me to the point where I need to go to bed.

Sarah

I sleep pretty well, so I don’t think it’s impacting my sleep. Sometimes I do notice that if I’m staring at the computer for too long, my eyes do get a little strained. But I also feel kind of disassociated and everything gets crazy…

Zena

Definitely fatigue. I sleep pretty heavily, but I do find that I have a really hard time waking up early. No matter how early I go to bed at night, I can’t get out of bed in the morning. I could see that as a result from too much blue light.

Blue Light Glasses: First Impressions

Chloe

Okay, so I see a little bit of a difference. There kind of feels like there’s a sheen on the glass that I’m looking through. I feel like if I look at a computer, it’ll be very different, so I’m excited to try that out.

Joelle

It’s definitely easier on the eyes. Usually when I look at my screen, I tend to find myself squinting a lot. But trying them on, I’m not doing that as much.

Sarah

I’ve always wanted to wear glasses, but my vision is good so it’s very fun to have a reason to finally wear glasses. I love how they look!

Zena

I was expecting the lenses to be very orange, but they’re not! There’s just this yellow sheen on them that’s very subtle.

Our Observations

Chloe

After a few days, I’ve noticed a slight difference in the way that my eyes feel at the end of the day. I can definitely tell that they’re helping. I can only notice a slight difference in color because of the lenses, but that’s about it.

Joelle

I can honestly say that I’m seeing a difference, as though my eyes aren’t as strained as they once were. I can actually focus more on doing my work.

Sarah

It’s helping with the eye strain that I feel. I used to look at the computer for long periods of time, and then just feel out of it. It’s really helping with that. But the thing that’s most interesting is when I put these Pixel glasses on, it’s officially time to get to work. It makes me really productive and focused; it’s like my super power. I put on the glasses and know it’s time to get stuff done.

Zena

One thing that these glasses are making me very conscious of is just how much time I spend in front of screens. I originally thought, “Oh, I’ll just need these when I’m at work in front of the computer.” However, as I’m trying to wear them every time I’m looking at a screen, I realize that I’m looking at screens from the minute I wake up to right before I go to bed, which is really alarming.

Final Verdicts

Chloe

I noticed a big difference and will continue using them, for sure! But I want to get a prescription version so I can wear them even more often. (Pixel Eyewear has you covered on prescription options.)

Joelle

I’ve noticed a very significant difference, especially when I watch TV. As soon as I started wearing these glasses while watching TV, I noticed that I went to bed as much as two hours earlier than I would normally. So I’ve definitely seen a difference with my sleeping pattern and would keep using them.

Sarah

I actually really like them! I feel like they’ve made a difference, and, most importantly, I think I look pretty jazzy in these babies.

One thing that was a little bit challenging for me with the glasses is keeping track of them and remembering to bring them out with me. I’m just not used to wearing glasses, and it sometimes feels like one more thing that I have to remember to do. But that tired feeling you get after looking at a computer all day? I didn’t really have that, so I plan on continuing to use these daily.

Zena

Somehow just wearing them makes me feel better, knowing what I know about blue light. I do feel like there’s less eye strain, and it really made me conscious of how much time I spend looking at my phone, computer, and TV.

What I learned about these glasses in particular is they block 50-95% of blue lights, according to their website. So, it might not be protecting from blue light completely, but you also don’t have that distorted color. At one point I used the settings on my phone to remove 100% of blue light, but it made the screen this crazy red. In the end, it was impossible to view photos or apps so I never used it. Ultimately, there’s a scale of usability to the amount of blue light blocking you can get. I think these glasses really hit the spot and block enough light without compromising the look of anything, so you can wear them all the time.