Why does my laptop screen make headaches worse, but not my phone?

September 25, 2023 4:37 PM

I have chronic daily headaches. And like lot of people, laptop screens make the headaches worse after a short amount of time. But my iPhone screens doesn't seem to have the same effect. I really want to figure out why!

Like it says above the fold, I have chronic daily headaches / migraines. I have an entire medical team to help me manage them; i'm not looking for medical advice. But I've noticed, unsurprisingly, my headaches get worse with laptop screen time. But it's not nearly as noticeable with my phone. I need to figure out why... if i can replicate the phone screen in a laptop that doesn't affect my headaches as much, it would be a huge quality of life improvement!

I switch between two laptops (work and home).

One is a 13" Macbook Pro from 2020 - the last one on Intel chip. Google says the screen is 3.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227ppi.

The other is a 2021 14" MBP with M1 chip; Google says its 14.2-inch (diagonal) Liquid Retina XDR display;1 3024-by-1964 native resolution at 254ppi.

The phone is a iPhone 14 Pro; google says its 6.1‑inch (diagonal) all‑screen OLED display 2556‑by‑1179-pixel resolution at 460 ppi

So.. given i really dont know much about monitor tech at all, my guess is the higher ppi might be less headache-inducing? I'm also curious about refresh rates, but the 2021 MBP and the iPhone seem to have ProMotion technology with adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz. The smaller size is the only other variable i can think of.

I also feel like the headaches are worse with the older MBP, but that might be confirmation bias; i haven't kept those types of stats. Anecdotally I also feel like it was worse when i had a monitor attached but again, i'm not sure i can trust that and I dont have the monitor specs anyway except to say it was the cheapest 4k monitor i could find 5 years ago.

I know i can futz on my phone for literal hours and often be ok (for my definition of ok), but 60-90 min on the laptop and i'm done.

Any other thoughts onto why this might be? How can I test the theory? As far as I can tell, there are no monitors (or iPads) with the same ppi as the iPhones, if thats even the differentiating factor.

(If I knew it would help, I would find the $$ for an expensive monitor... I guess I could buy one and return it if it didnt help, but that feels kinda icky. And there's no guarantee I could make my macbooks get the right resolution/refresh rate anyway)

posted by cgg to Technology (16 answers total)

Does your phone have Night Shift turned on? If so, what are those settings? Do your laptops have Night Shift or any equivalent like f.lux that will shift the screen color more orange as it gets darker outside? I practically can't use any device that doesn't have f.lux or night shift at this point, any excessively blue light really strains my eyes. Might this be the case for you?

The only other thing I can think of is postural, because lol I'm kind of your opposite. Messing with my phone for hours is almost guaranteed to give me a migraine because of the way I have to hold my neck and shoulder to hold my phone. I don't have issues with a laptop unless I'm making ill-advised sitting decisions.
posted by yasaman at 4:44 PM on September 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Focal distance.

Typically you hold a phone much closer to your face than you do a laptop screen. This is supported by the evidence that it's worse when your monitor is attached - I imagine your monitor is further away again.

Take a look at your setups with that in mind, but as far as I can see it looks like it might be time to get your eyes checked. This sort of headache and strain was the first sign for me that I needed glasses, though in my case it was screens vs. books.
posted by Jilder at 4:44 PM on September 25, 2023 [5 favorites]

Do you have different glasses for different distances? It's possible you have more eyestrain at laptop and at monitor distances.
posted by just.good.enough at 4:48 PM on September 25, 2023

How is your head/neck/shoulder posture when you're using your laptop?
posted by Jeanne at 4:56 PM on September 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

I wouldn't so readily discount the smaller size. Think of how much of your field of vision each fills. That's the proportion of unnatural (for lack of a better word) input your eyes are getting per unit time.

So it makes sense to me that 50% FOV for 30 min induces less discomfort than 15% FOV for the same time, even if everything else is identical.

As an exercise, try to estimate how much of your field of view each screen takes up under your typical usage.

I personally think dpi differences are irrelevant, given that the lower dpi is still plenty high for the distance you view it from.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:56 PM on September 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

My first thought would be eyes/monitor distance - it could be related to strain and tension in the muscles around your eyes as you focus that you don't have conscious awareness of, but which sends you over a tipping point into the nervous system migraine response or leads to inflammation of the trigeminal nerves area.

My second thought was that you could have different neck/shoulder/arm posture for laptop v. phone that involves muscle strain or discomfort that you might not be aware of. If you have an occupational therapist on your medical team this might be something to bring up.
posted by lizard music at 5:01 PM on September 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

It could be the light output. In each case you are staring into a screen that gives off light, but the phone is presumably giving off a lot less light because it is so much smaller.
posted by Jane the Brown at 5:46 PM on September 25, 2023 [3 favorites]

Anecdotally, my laptop tolerance increased a lot when I stopped using progressive bifocals with it and got a pair of computer glasses with the correct focal length. It reduced eyestrain but also the single-distance focus meant I could hold my head more naturally. (I am super nearsighted in one eye and use the phone without glasses.)

It didn't help with my migraines but the posture issue helped with tension headaches.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 5:53 PM on September 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Phones have higher pixel density, which is easier on the eyes. They are also often a completely different technology than computer monitors, which can again make them easier on the eyes and head.
posted by Ahniya at 6:53 PM on September 25, 2023

As a fellow migraine sufferer, for me it is 100% about screen size. The bigger the screen, the more light that is blazing at me, and the more likely I am to trigger a migraine with increased use. I can often use my phone when my laptop feels too bright; I can often use my laptop when my external monitor feels to bright. I can never use my partner’s external monitor because it is too big, and even if I dim the screen it still emits way too much light over too much of my field of vision. (In fact, I had to spend a bunch of extra money to get the smallest external monitor on the market.)
posted by CtrlAltDelete at 8:40 PM on September 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also consider where you use the phone and laptop. Does one have a dark surrounding, or light coming in from the side that might be adding eye strain?

Try wearing a hat with a brim and see if that cuts down on glare. Also turn the laptop screen off, and look for bright reflections on the screen that might lead to eye strain.
posted by nickggully at 9:17 PM on September 25, 2023

I’ve found that I perceive flicker in lights much more readily in my peripheral vision than I do when I look right at the same light source.

And flickering light is a big driver of migraine headaches.

You might be a person with an unusual ability to perceive ~120Hz flicker, or it could be changes on the screen causing flickering, but my guess is that you perceive your monitors as flickering and your phone as not flickering for the same content.
posted by jamjam at 11:00 PM on September 25, 2023

Maybe you have the blue light filter setting active on your phone but not your laptop?
posted by Jacqueline at 11:47 PM on September 25, 2023

Ideal posture for working with a computer screen has the top of the active screen area at your eye height, and the keyboard+mouse at a height that makes your forearms level when you're sitting upright in your work chair and your hands are on the controls. Using a laptop without an external keyboard and/or screen makes this impossible: screen will be too low, or keyboard too high, or both.

Also, the screen needs to be centred directly in front of you, not off to one side.

Of course these are guidelines, not physical laws, but failure to follow them almost always induces chronic neck and shoulder tension that often manifests as grinding headaches.

If setting up your workspace according to these rules is unachievable, most people can mitigate chronic tension issues by taking a 5 minute walking-around break at least every half hour. Swing your arms around a bit every time you get up, too. Flip the bird at anybody who looks at you funny for doing that. Use both hands.

Staring fixedly at a phone being held at a fixed distance from your face for anything like half an hour at a stretch is rare in practice exactly because phone ergonomics are so brutally horrible that they're simply not normally given the time it would take to bring on chronic postural issues.
posted by flabdablet at 12:58 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

As a fellow migraine sufferer, for me it is 100% about screen size. The bigger the screen, the more light that is blazing at me, and the more likely I am to trigger a migraine with increased use.

Exactly the same for me, I can tolerate my iPad with a migraine but not my laptop.
posted by ellieBOA at 4:31 AM on September 26, 2023

Seconding it may be a posture issue. Also. if you wear necklaces don't, they may put pressure on your neck sufficient to cause headaches. And loosen your bra straps.
posted by mareli at 6:33 AM on September 26, 2023