Ultrawide Monitor eye strain/damage PSA

[Syntax]

I have not seen this touched on much at all but I think it will become very serious in the future as curved wide monitors become more available.

I have been using wide curved monitors for my gaming pc setups for a few years now, recently I moved up to a Samsung G9 which really pushes the limits of curve and width compared to my Asus PG348Q.

After about 3 weeks of using the G9 I noticed my living room TV was bulging like a ball. I have excellent vision and can pick if something is out of level or out of square by eye very easily so this bulging of a flat piece of glass was doing my head in.

Also now when driving I find it hard to focus on speed signs from a distance, I see double until im close. Focusing on small components is harder now too.
Im pretty sure this curved monitor has stuffed my eyes and pulls them outwards in an attempt to see the entire screen and increase my peripherals.

I know the bulging of flat objects will go away eventually and hoping the focus issues I am having will resolve if I stop using the monitor, but I love it using it.... I do love my eyes more tho.

What to do??? I paid through the teeth for the G9 and had no idea that prolonged use could actually damage my vision.

Here is a reddit users very similar experience.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidemaste ... ultrawide/

[Dochartaigh]

Do you wear glasses or contacts? If so, I would talk to your optometrist. When I switch from glasses to contacts (after not wearing one type regularly for a long time), I get this effect as well and your eyes/brain DO adapt and then things start looking normal/straight again.

[Syntax]

Nope, 20/20 vision.
I don"t even need to magnify anything when doing fine pitch work (usually) but since getting this monitor its been getting harder and harder.

Even reading the text typing this is a strain on my eyes. Games are fine tho.

[Bratwurst]

Nope, 20/20 vision.

Regardless, as we get older our eyes lose their ability to focus and shift, especially 'on the fly.' In most cases people become farsighted. I personally have been nearsighted since childhood and recently can't look at fine detail that well unless I lift my glasses to hold it up close. The difference in focal range required between reading small print and then regarding objects at room distance was something my eyes used to be able to account for within my prescription lenses.

I really can't recommend you use curved panels anymore.

[Lawfer]

Modern display use "white led" which is basically actually a blue led that goes through a color filter, side effect of white led technology is eyestrain, headheache etc.

"The LED screens currently on the market use WLED (White LED) backlighting. The working principle of WLED is to use emissions from a blue chip to excite yellow phosphor on chip to produce white light. However, emissions from the blue chip become short wavelength blue light and may cause vision problems after prolonged usage."

Don't bother switching to OLED either, as most OLED also uses WLED technology as well (unless you get a Sony OLED BVM). I think that mini-LED actually uses RGB technology instead of WLED technology, so consider picking one of these instead.

[Syntax]

Its not me getting older or LED vs OLED or anything like that which is causing issues.

It the fact that I have a 49 inch wide monitor infront of my face which stretches my peripherals pulling my eyes outwards and causing me to have poor focus now outside of gaming. I didnt have this issue on a monitor that was smaller.
And the intense 1000r curve which my brain has accounted for warping anything flat I look at. Once again no issue on a monitor with a less aggressive curve.

Spoiler

[tongshadow]

Should've used the true and tried triple head setup.
Seriously though, ultrawides never felt right to me, and there are very few games that can benefit of it.

[Josh128]

lol I was going to say getting old too but I suppose it could be eye/brain strain. I never did like the idea of concave curved monitors, I prefer the good old convex curve of a vintage CRT.