Kids and Computer Screens

Cutting and pasting an animal scene, with child, on the Stanley
website today got me wondering about a few things regarding my
child and my LCD monitor...

1. Does that "don't sit too close to the screen" warning about
televisions also apply to LCD monitors? Was it even accurate
with regards to TV? She likes to point things out on the screen,
and now that I think about it, *everyone* sits pretty close
to the computer screen, esp. compared to how we all watch TV.

2. Are LCD monitors damaged by touching with fingers? I don't
mean sharp or jagged jabs. However, even the lightest touch
causes a "ripple" of sorts in the screen. Are those light touches
damaging?

3. And, how do you clean those screens safely? I assume that I
can no longer use Windex, as I did on my old CRT. What
works, also without damage?

Thanks.


P. Tierney

Cutting and pasting an animal scene, with child, on the Stanley
website today got me wondering about a few things regarding my
child and my LCD monitor...

1. Does that "don't sit too close to the screen" warning about
televisions also apply to LCD monitors? Was it even accurate
with regards to TV? She likes to point things out on the screen,
and now that I think about it, *everyone* sits pretty close
to the computer screen, esp. compared to how we all watch TV.

2. Are LCD monitors damaged by touching with fingers? I don't
mean sharp or jagged jabs. However, even the lightest touch
causes a "ripple" of sorts in the screen. Are those light touches
damaging?

3. And, how do you clean those screens safely? I assume that I
can no longer use Windex, as I did on my old CRT. What
works, also without damage?

Hi there,

I've had LCD screens since they first started to get big

Touching the sceen wont damage it, especially your childs fingers, LCD has
two fluros (sp?) in it, which if break, your replace a fluro lights, one at
the top, one on the right side i believe.

I also think that sitting too close is a bit different to tvs, as we can
spend a few hours watching tv... also on that though if your like me and
work on computers your looking at it quite a bit, i believe they are made
differently... but i would get up for a little walk about every 30 min -
hour

As for cleaning, i've always used windex, and its never damaged... but dont
take my word on it as i could just be lucky!

It should say it in your monitor intructions!

HTH

Leanne

My god that was horrible spelling!!

Baby brains have kicked in!

Leanne


Hi there,

I've had LCD screens since they first started to get big

Touching the sceen wont damage it, especially your childs fingers, LCD has
two fluros (sp?) in it, which if break, your replace a fluro lights, one
at
the top, one on the right side i believe.

I also think that sitting too close is a bit different to tvs, as we can
spend a few hours watching tv... also on that though if your like me and
work on computers your looking at it quite a bit, i believe they are made
differently... but i would get up for a little walk about every 30 min -
hour

As for cleaning, i've always used windex, and its never damaged... but
dont
take my word on it as i could just be lucky!

It should say it in your monitor intructions!

HTH

Leanne

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 07:02:49 GMT, "P. Tierney"
wrote:

Cutting and pasting an animal scene, with child, on the Stanley
website today got me wondering about a few things regarding my
child and my LCD monitor...

1. Does that "don't sit too close to the screen" warning about
televisions also apply to LCD monitors? Was it even accurate
with regards to TV? She likes to point things out on the screen,
and now that I think about it, *everyone* sits pretty close
to the computer screen, esp. compared to how we all watch TV.

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_105.html

First the good news: according to most eye specialists, claims
that you'll ruin your eyes by sitting too close to the TV, reading
in bed, using inadequate light, etc., are old wives' tales. The
bad news is that the old wives may have been right.

First let's dispose of the TV threat. Virtually no one believes that
under ordinary circumstances television watching poses any
special danger. (Well, physically, anyway.) Prior to 1968 or so
some sets emitted excessive X-rays, but that problem has now
been eliminated. More recently concern has arisen about
computer video display terminals (VDTs), which typically are
viewed at much closer range than televisions; research is
nconclusive so far but continuing. To be on the safe side some
eye doctors say you shouldn't let your kids get closer than five
feet to the TV screen, the room shouldn't be pitch black, etc.
But the intention is to prevent eye fatigue, not eye damage.

The more general (and more interesting) question you raise
is this: is it possible to ruin your eyesight through overuse,
close work, inadequate light, and so on? The usual answer
from the MDs is no. But don't be too sure. A fair number of
people believe that some eye problems, notably myopia
(nearsightedness), are a "product of civilization," as one
researcher puts it.

The most striking demonstration of this was a study in the
late 60s of eyesight among Eskimoes in Barrow, Alaska.
These people had been introduced to the joys of civilization
around World War II. The incidence of myopia in those age
56 and up was zero percent; in parents age 30 and up, 8
percent; in their children, 59 percent.

The same phenomenon has turned up in studies of other
newly-civilized peoples, suggesting that modern life
somehow causes nearsightedness. But how? Nobody knows.
The shift among the Eskimoes appeared to be too sudden to
be explained by genetics alone (although there is little
question that a predisposition to nearsightedness is inherited).
On the theory that too much close focusing while young
permanently distorts the eyeball, some experts gave kids
regular doses of atropine, which relaxes the eye muscles.
(Eye doctors use it to dilate your pupils prior to an exam.)
A few claimed this halted myopia but failed to convince
many of their peers, and there was the obvious practical
problem that with your eyes dilated you couldn't see for
beans.

Other researchers blame dietary deficiences, e.g., not
enough copper or chromium; excessive exposure to
pesticides; and so on. But nothing has been proven.

Animal studies tend to support the idea that myopia is caused
by eyestrain. Normal monkeys are not myopic; neither are
monkeys whose eyes are kept completely sealed off from light.
But monkeys whose eyes were sutured so they could see only
dimly (I realize this is the kind of thing that outrages animal
rights activists) did become myopic, presumably because they
could see something and strained their eyes trying to see more.

The idea that the civilization means bad eyes is by no means
universally accepted. The Alaska Eskimo study, for example,
was criticized for not testing a random sample--presumably
the main reason kids were brought to the Barrow clinic was
that their parents thought they had vision problems, which of
course skewed the results. Other studies have failed to find
a correlation between environment and vision.

So what's a father to do? Search me, pard. If you buy the eyestrain
argument you could feed the kids whale blubber and chuck the books,
TV, and needlepoint lessons, but the tradeoff might not be worth it.
Having to wear eyeglasses is hardly a major handicap these days
whereas being an uneducated mope is. Till such time as the
myopia-inducing component of civilization (if any) is isolated, you're
probably best off chalking up a little nearsightedness as a small
price to pay for indoor plumbing.

--CECIL ADAMS

Btw, according to this, LCDs are less likely to cause eyestrain than
CRTs

http://www.staples.com/content/Article/I-N/LCDFAQs.asp

LCD monitors

Is it true that LCD monitors are easier on your eyes?

Yes. Unlike CRT monitors, the images on LCD monitors refresh a pixel,
rather than an entire line, at a time. The images on CRT monitors (as
well as televisions) are redrawn at a rapid rate not usually
discernable to the eye. This is why photographs of television and CRT
screens don't turn out (and why when you look into a dark room
brightened only by a television there seems to be mild strobe effect
on the walls of the room). This refreshing of CRT screens (measured as
frequency) can cause eyestrain for some people. LCDs do not flicker
and often cause less eyestrain.

2. Are LCD monitors damaged by touching with fingers? I don't
mean sharp or jagged jabs. However, even the lightest touch
causes a "ripple" of sorts in the screen. Are those light touches
damaging?

http://www.tridentdisplays.co.uk/hom...s/pnews055.htm

when you press on the front of an LCD monitor you leave finger marks
that are very difficult to clean off. Worse still, an LCD can be very
easily damaged by pressure, either from fingers or from sharper
objects, like pens.

3. And, how do you clean those screens safely? I assume that I
can no longer use Windex, as I did on my old CRT. What
works, also without damage?

I don't know about using windex but there are plenty of specialized
cleaners on the market. They seem to come in premoistened pads.

Rule No. 1 for safe cleaning is to follow the lcd monitor
manufacturer's recommendations. If you've lost the computer's
documentation, go to the manufacturer's Web site on the Internet
and search for directions with terms like "clean monitor."

Thanks.


P. Tierney


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

In article ,
toto wrote:




The same phenomenon has turned up in studies of other
newly-civilized peoples, suggesting that modern life
somehow causes nearsightedness. But how? Nobody knows.
The shift among the Eskimoes appeared to be too sudden to
be explained by genetics alone (although there is little
question that a predisposition to nearsightedness is inherited).
On the theory that too much close focusing while young
permanently distorts the eyeball, some experts gave kids
regular doses of atropine, which relaxes the eye muscles.
(Eye doctors use it to dilate your pupils prior to an exam.)
A few claimed this halted myopia but failed to convince
many of their peers, and there was the obvious practical
problem that with your eyes dilated you couldn't see for
beans.


In my family, all of us first four kids needed glasses quite young, and
have REALLY bad nearsightedness. When our much younger siblings came
along, there was a doctor using the atropine treatment, and my mom got
them into the program: they used atropine regularly, had to wear
sunglasses outdoors, and used reading glasses. (The dilation made the
sunglasses necessary; the relaxed eye muscles meant they couldn't focus
close, but reading glasses took care of that.) They were supposed to
use the drops until they stopped growing. Unfortunately, the doctor
died, and the one who took over his practice refused to continue the
treatment, saying there was no proof that it worked. (It is not
possible, after all, to do a double-blind study on this, since there is
no way to use a placebo -- anyone getting the placebo would know they
aren't getting atropine!) However, they used the atropine for quite a
number of years, and neither of them has eyes as bad as the four of us
older kids.

I know: anecdotal only. I just think it's unfortunate that these
studies weren't continued, because from what I was able to read, I think
they were showing promise. When DD#2 needed glasses by the time she was
8, I talked to the eye doctor about this; she said at the time, it
would be hard to find anyone using this any more, and the more recent
studies were trying to do the drops only at night, but I haven't looked
into it for several years.


meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

"Leanne" wrote:

As for cleaning, i've always used windex, and its never damaged... but
dont
take my word on it as i could just be lucky!

It should say it in your monitor intructions!

Ah,the dreaded instruction booklet. Alas, I will cave in and actually
read it. Maybe tomorrow. ;-) Thanks.


P. Tierney

"toto" wrote:

Btw, according to this, LCDs are less likely to cause eyestrain than
CRTs

I hope so, as I have to think that many or most people
use computers in a way that is more similar to books that
to TV. Being close is a part of the process. I certainly
wouldn't want to read your post, or the many articles
that I read online, from a TV stand while I'm sitting on the
couch. ;-)

when you press on the front of an LCD monitor you leave finger marks
that are very difficult to clean off. Worse still, an LCD can be very
easily damaged by pressure, either from fingers or from sharper
objects, like pens.

Okay, one yes and one no. If anyone else has had experiences
with LCD, either damaging it, or using it to point and not having
any damage, I'd like to hear it. Thanks.


P. Tierney

Well my kids touch my screen all the time and I have used Windex on it with
a soft cloth for the five years I have had the monitor. We haven't had any
problems with it. As far as sitting to close, I don't have a clue but I know
that my kids are up to it so they can see what they are doing and typing on
the screen. One child has had glasses. However, she had them long before we
ever got the computer and the other two children are just fine. I have no
studies to back my claim up, just anecdotal. )
--
Sue (mom to three girls)
I'm Just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World...

P. Tierney wrote in message
newsfAob.54865$275.137003@attbi_s53...
"toto" wrote:

Btw, according to this, LCDs are less likely to cause eyestrain than
CRTs

I hope so, as I have to think that many or most people
use computers in a way that is more similar to books that
to TV. Being close is a part of the process. I certainly
wouldn't want to read your post, or the many articles
that I read online, from a TV stand while I'm sitting on the
couch. ;-)

when you press on the front of an LCD monitor you leave finger marks
that are very difficult to clean off. Worse still, an LCD can be very
easily damaged by pressure, either from fingers or from sharper
objects, like pens.

Okay, one yes and one no. If anyone else has had experiences
with LCD, either damaging it, or using it to point and not having
any damage, I'd like to hear it. Thanks.


P. Tierney

On Sat, 1 Nov 2003, Sue wrote:

Well my kids touch my screen all the time and I have used Windex on it with
a soft cloth for the five years I have had the monitor. We haven't had any
problems with it.

Is this an LCD monitor ???


As far as sitting to close, I don't have a clue but I know
that my kids are up to it so they can see what they are doing and typing on
the screen. One child has had glasses. However, she had them long before we
ever got the computer and the other two children are just fine. I have no
studies to back my claim up, just anecdotal. )
--
Sue (mom to three girls)
I'm Just a Raggedy Ann in a Barbie Doll World...

P. Tierney wrote in message
newsfAob.54865$275.137003@attbi_s53...
"toto" wrote:

Btw, according to this, LCDs are less likely to cause eyestrain than
CRTs

I hope so, as I have to think that many or most people
use computers in a way that is more similar to books that
to TV. Being close is a part of the process. I certainly
wouldn't want to read your post, or the many articles
that I read online, from a TV stand while I'm sitting on the
couch. ;-)

when you press on the front of an LCD monitor you leave finger marks
that are very difficult to clean off. Worse still, an LCD can be very
easily damaged by pressure, either from fingers or from sharper
objects, like pens.

Okay, one yes and one no. If anyone else has had experiences
with LCD, either damaging it, or using it to point and not having
any damage, I'd like to hear it. Thanks.

"Joni Rathbun" wrote in message
...

On Sat, 1 Nov 2003, Sue wrote:

Well my kids touch my screen all the time and I have used Windex on it
with
a soft cloth for the five years I have had the monitor. We haven't had
any
problems with it.

Is this an LCD monitor ???

Do you ask because of the touching, or the Windex?


P. Tierney