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Dizziness Using Mobile

EtherSpin

Senior Member
Messages
257
Location
Melbourne , Australia
cant read properly yet this morning so havent properly scanned every comment reply here except the original comment...

I would say check and describe the phone display type we are talking about here because I recently found out that the most common display type (OLED = organic LED) has several pretty unique visual characteristics that could be terrible for CFS

PWM is a brightness lowering method used for these screens which i understand to be rapid flickering on and off and its a type of screen tech that select users can get migraines and other problems from
https://www.oled-info.com/pulse-width-modulation-pwm-oled-displays

OLED Jelly scrolling is another, its a visual illusion that when you have been scrolling and stop or if you are mid scroll and swipe again changing or renewing the scroll speed it seems like the contents compress a bit or stretch out like jelly does when pulled around in different directions.

For me personally the biggest problem with mobiles now (and gripe!) is that OLED (or in the case of Samsungs branding "AMOLED" ) have overtly finite components, the LEDs that make up the screen have finite life span and in particular the blue ones so if used for enough time these screens are 100% guaranteed to wear out and get images burnt in - Problem for us CFS folks is ... the average user who can get through a day without topping up the phone charge typically wont notice really subtle burn in and will either throw their old phone in a drawer at the 2 year-ish mark OR might have had the screen replaced due to broken glass anyway

every phone since I've been significantly ill (i.e. enough to reduce or stop work) has gotten tburn in at around 1 year into ownership which has become near unbearable by 18 months.

my current one is the Note 8 and I have a persistent news logo, the entire onscreen keyboard letter outlines, google search icon, battery icon, reception and wifi icons.

problem is... its considered prestigious to have a curved AMOLED display now and almost no robust phones have the alternative ( LCD/IPS) - ive been looking at a few but they have no service centres for these phones in my country due to them not being common or the phones have low internal storage, poor battery size etc

blather over :)

summary - I would recommend CFS folks try to avoid AMOLED unless they are in the mild category and don't use their phone much, certainly not if like me,its a media consumption device
 
Last edited:
Messages
89
cant read properly yet this morning so havent properly scanned every comment reply here except the original comment...

I would say check and describe the phone display type we are talking about here because I recently found out that the most common display type (OLED = organic LED) has several pretty unique visual characteristics that could be terrible for CFS

PWM is a brightness lowering method used for these screens which i understand to be rapid flickering on and off and its a type of screen tech that select users can get migraines and other problems from
https://www.oled-info.com/pulse-width-modulation-pwm-oled-displays

OLED Jelly scrolling is another, its a visual illusion that when you have been scrolling and stop or if you are mid scroll and swipe again changing or renewing the scroll speed it seems like the contents compress a bit or stretch out like jelly does when pulled around in different directions.

For me personally the biggest problem with mobiles now (and gripe!) is that OLED (or in the case of Samsungs branding "AMOLED" ) have overtly finite components, the LEDs that make up the screen have finite life span and in particular the blue ones so if used for enough time these screens are 100% guaranteed to wear out and get images burnt in - Problem for us CFS folks is ... the average user who can get through a day without topping up the phone charge typically wont notice really subtle burn in and will either throw their old phone in a drawer at the 2 year-ish mark OR might have had the screen replaced due to broken glass anyway

every phone since I've been significantly ill (i.e. enough to reduce or stop work) has gotten tburn in at around 1 year into ownership which has become near unbearable by 18 months.

my current one is the Note 8 and I have a persistent news logo, the entire onscreen keyboard letter outlines, google search icon, battery icon, reception and wifi icons.

problem is... its considered prestigious to have a curved AMOLED display now and almost no robust phones have the alternative ( LCD/IPS) - ive been looking at a few but they have no service centres for these phones in my country due to them not being common or the phones have low internal storage, poor battery size etc

blather over :)

summary - I would recommend CFS folks try to avoid AMOLED unless they are in the mild category and don't use their phone much, certainly not if like me,its a media consumption device

This is fascinating, I didn’t know that about the PWM, it does tend to be later in the day that this problem occurs when the phone is on a dimmer setting. I could never watch those plasma TVs that were popular before LED TVs because I could see the flicker.

I use my phone a lot, especially when I’m resting bed, I’ve noticed that when I start feeling dizzy and off, if I put down my phone it helps massively.

Scrolling can be particularly troublesome, quite often have to put the phone down when I’m tired after doing this.

If I play a game on my laptop it makes me very tired and can again suddenly make me feel dizzy horrible, weirdly I don’t get it if I play a game on my Xbox connected to a Samsung LED tv, very strange...

certain shops give me the same effect with their lighting which can be troublesome, I suddenly have to get out of there...
 

EtherSpin

Senior Member
Messages
257
Location
Melbourne , Australia
AH! i think the samsung LED TV is just old type of light emitting diodes behind liquid crystal (for the colours) - in short its distinct from the OLEDs on phones and may use totally different dimming methods.

also.. regarding ipads, most PC monitors and most TVs - if those seem easier there is also a difference in clarity from most phone screens cause OLED/AMOLED uses less subpixels to make its colours - proper nerdy stuff to read and I wouldnt know about it if i hadnt read about it years ago when i had all my cognition but 90% of the phones out there now have this "Pentile" arrangement which saves on the number of coloured subpixels that make up each square pixel on our phone screen.

when I look at an OLED screen and look at things like white text on a black background and then scroll or even just stare its like the white text is bleeding at the edges and spilling out glow that hurts my head

definitely worth using a friends IPS/LCD screen phone or looking in a phone shop if thats something you are capable of physically doing, see if the phenomenon is gone on different screens