When I started a new job a few months ago, a few of the developers told me about these yellow sunglasses that they had seen and started wearing in the office.
I have to be honest… my first impression was I wouldn’t be seen dead wearing yellow sunglasses around the office, no matter what the supposed benefits. My second impression was that under no circumstances would I pay the expensive price tag — each of these guys paid over $100 for their eyewear.
Why would anyone want to wear yellow sunglasses at work? I’m a computer programmer, not a physics professor, so here’s the way I understand things:
- Office lighting is overwhelmingly flourescent, which is not only very bright but also has high concentrations of blue-spectrum wavelengths.
- Computer monitors emit high concentrations of blue-spectrum light.
- Staring and squinting at a computer all day is hard enough on the eyes. Blue-spectrum lighting can place further strain on your eyes.
- Yellow-tinted glasses filter blue-spectrum light, thus (theoretically) making your eyes less tired.
Since I’m a bit of a skeptic, I decided to spend $10 at my local gas station on a pair of yellow sunglasses. After my first day at the office wearing my nerdy yellow glasses I am definitely hooked. I guess this is just confirmation that I’m a nerd, but my eyes have never felt better after 10 hours of writing code.
As for buying the expensive yellow glasses? I’m still skeptical. I may ask one of the guys to borrow theirs for a day to try them… but I’m cheap, so it’s going to be a hard sell.
About Arthur Kay 
