How Harmful is Blue Light?

Maybe our eyes just need a break

An amazing perk of living in the 21st century is having access to numerous types of digital devices. Computers, tablets, smartwatches, and televisions are all popular items that we use daily, and in turn, expose us to blue light.

According to the Vision Council, 80% of American adults use digital devices more than two hours per day, and nearly 67% use two or more devices at the same time. The time we spend scrolling can have damaging effects, making it important to understand what blue light actually is.

What is Blue Light?

Humans can see a thin spectrum of light, ranging from red to violet. Visible light rays come in different colors — red, orange, yellow, green and blue — which have varying wavelengths and amounts of energy. Warmer color light rays that have longer wavelengths contain less energy, and cooler colored light rays have short wavelengths but more energy. Rays on the blue end of the spectrum have shorter wavelengths, more energy, and are the closest to invisible, ultraviolet light on the color spectrum.

Blue light belongs to the visible light spectrum. They vibrate within the 380 to 500 nanometer range, have the shortest wavelength and highest energy. About one-third of all visible light is considered high-energy…