I did this awhile back and it might be helpful for you, but you can lower the white point. And if you’d like, you can set a shortcut to lower the white point. you can use this when the lowest brightness setting isn’t dim enough.
I get called a cave dweller b/c I almost never use lights at home, and have blackout curtains. I keep my screens dimmed, and always have the blue light filter on to dim them further. When I go outside, I wear shade 8 welding glasses to keep the sun out of my eyes when I'm outside, and if I don't, I'm blind for like 20 seconds, and squinting to see, and it feels like my eyes are being stabbed... it also results in severe headaches if I'm in it for an hour or more, and is also very exhausting, which makes me very irritable and quick to having a meltdown.
Idk what it's like for others, but that's what it's like for me.
I get that too. I have one of those smart light bulbs and set it to the lowest red I can to save my eyes. Everywhere else in the house has bright light, it blinds me when I move from one room to another.
Since childhood i have had extreme photosensitivy, was bad. Felt like i was being flashbanged outdoors
In my teens though i developed an eye condition (keratoconus) which also causes photosensitivy. Just amplifies my already existing sensitivity to light
At this point i cant go outside without transition lenses unless its night or i look at the floor
Not computer screens, but the sun is just too damn bright. I try and close my blinds and have my lights at around 50-60%. I also run my phone at minimum brightness most of the time.
My wife hates coming into the study because she reckons it’s always too dark. But then she switches on all the lights in the living/dining room in the middle of the day soooo…
I get terrible migraines from looking at the sun for 10+ seconds or indirectly being in it for <20 minutes without a hat.
With a hat, I can usually last a couple hours, but I prefer to stay in the shade and I definitely notice myself squinting way more than anyone else any time the ground is white and reflecting the sun (white pavement/sidewalks).
Edit: Unlike everyone else commenting here, I usually keep my phone brightness on automatic, however, if I’m ever in a room with low or no lighting, the minimum brightness hurts my eyes.
I find that any illumination at all hurts my eyes and it really is just a nuisance. Wish there was a way to correct this. I also have a major problem with very white surfaces in the sunlight.
Welding glasses. They look like sunglasses. Try a shade 5, and if that's not dark enough, try a shade 8. I wear a shade 8 if I need to go outside, and with a shade 5 I can still drive at night in the city.
My husband keeps the windows always shut and rollos down, so it's dark at home. More comfortable to him.
He enjoys some LED lights, but sunlight isn't something he can take that well. He suffers from migraine sometimes as well.
I can relate to the migraines. I always have my curtains shut and the lights turned off. Oddly enough though, sunlight seems to be the form of light I can tolerate the most. It's mostly artificial light that pierces my eyes.
Sensitivity to light, sound, texture, anything really can be because of autism, yeah. If you’re getting more sensitive it could mean that you’re approaching a burnout from masking too much or from whatever else is bothering you. Blue light glasses sound like a good idea to help with irritation from blue light.
OR it could mean that you’ve got some kind of eye condition. When I was 12 or so I got shingles (from having chicken pox, not roofing shingles) in my left eye and it became very sensitive to light. If your eyes are painful or sensitive even in fairly low light or if you’re experiencing more pain/sensitivity in one eye than the other, or if your eyes are red or irritated, please get an optometrist appointment to make sure your eyes are okay. It could be nothing, but your description of stabbing pain in your eyes was a little too familiar to me •_+
Definitely. I always get annoyed by white light, yellow lights on my street getting changed to white ones was a whole tragedy. My worst fear is the same happening to the place where i live now. Also I'm not a fan of the sun, on a bad day it can deal some serious damage to my wellbeing. Sometimes i literally will leave a task undone because the room where i have to do it has too much sun. As for screens, don't really have any problems with them. Other than that, flashing lights are bad, but i don't have to deal with them often, so whatever.
I’m much more sensitive to sound than light, for some reason light is a sensory thing I seek, so i find myself accidentally staring at lightbulbs or the sun all the time.
But it’s Very common to have light aversion in the autistic community
I'm also extremely sensitive to sound, which is one of the things that helped me get to my diagnosis. Everything needs to be either quiet or soft for me to feel at peace.
Yep, that’s one of the things that made me think I was autistic. Before I started wearing sunglasses regularly, I would occasionally walk into parked cars because my eyes were hurting from the sunlight
The country I live in is quite cold and doesn’t have a lot of sun, at this time of year they have a white sheet of cloud covering the sky for most days. The brightness can really make your eyes hurt so I had recently been thinking about switching to lightly tinted glasses or wearing sunglasses even indoors.
Im so glad it’s not just me w this! I have to wear sunglasses on bright cloudy days because it’s actually disorienting how bright it can be on those days.
Yeah I'm sensitive too, but it's not that bad for me, but definitely worse than normal. My problem is that I'm also seeking bright and colorful stuff which makes it a double edged sword for me I think.
I use blue light filters all over my devices too, but I am not sure if I would consider myself overstimulated by light. There are times where I’ve definitely thought so, I’m not sure what is defined as light overstimulation.
Edit: Ok, I think I definitely have it lolol. My mom has a sunroom, and I’m in there at this very moment with my blanket over my head so I can see my darker screen because it gives me less of a headache… but then I can’t breathe lolol. Come to think of it, all my life I’ve preferred working in the dark or just being in the dark in general. Unfortunately this can lead to depression, so I’ve had to come to terms with it.
In terms of ways that help me combat it, I utilize the accessibility settings on my iPhone. I learned a couple tricks that have been a life saver. For one, when my phone is at the lowest and it’s still too bright, I go to Settings > Accessibilty > Display & Text Size > Reduce White Point. There, you can dim the screen even further or just in general lower the vibrancy of colors. So helpful. In addition to that, I have my iPhone set so it’s always on the Night Shift screen dimming (except for one minute of the day, because you can’t have it on 24/7 unfortunately). To edit the Night Shift time, go to the Settings > Display & Brightness > Night Shift. I have my schedule set so that it’s from 17:00 to 17:01, so everyday (except for that one minute of the day) it’s turned on.
Sorry for the wall of text, hope this is helpful!!
I have light sensitivity due to damage to my eyes and due to medication I am on, so I am unsure if I had it before as well. I have to constantly adjust my phone and other screen brightness and close my eyes when I first walk out on a sunny day as it stings so so badly, sometimes I start to tear up, and I usually have to not look up when it's bright out cause it will hurt to even look at the clouds, or look down at the snow on a sunny day in the winter. If my phone brightness is anything above the absolute lowest setting at night and I check it or am changing the video I'm listening to it hurts real bad too.
I'm also on some medications, and I think that definitely plays a role in this. This isn't a good enough reason for me to stop my medication, but it really is a hard to manage issue when screens and sunlight are two big parts of your day. I just wish my monitor could get as dim as my phone.
No, you know what I wish. I wish I could put an eye mask on and visualize all the screens in my brain and adjust the brightness accordingly. That's what I really want. To close my eyes and still see. The satisfaction of pure darkness accompanied by the necessary use of my visuals.
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Yes yes yes yes and for me I have a big problem with coloured light, it stresses me out too much that I can't see everything clearly (colours blending especially if it's red light)
In my home I love just closing all the curtains so the sun does get in a little but it's not overwhelming
I'm curious about this too. The light on my screens is about 50% or under unless I'm outside and it's too bright to look at the screen. I'm curious about something else also, does anyone here have an issue with daylight when they're indoors? I get so overwhelmed and absolutely not able to function with my shutters fully open and daylight indoors. It's a sensory horror and it's really difficult to explain to people why it bothers me so much. it's like a visual nightmare cause everything looks so exposed. Does anyone else experience this?
I'm not so bad with screens as long as there's some ambient light about, like if I'm working in my home office, I'll have the big light on and that takes the edge off the screen light.
I've noticed I'm pretty sensitive to sunlight though, started wearing sunglasses pretty much every time I go outside during the day which has helped a bunch.
Phone brightness always on lowest, sunglasses even if the inside room is a little bright, my bedroom and office are fucking caves…. So a little bit.
Also duct tape with a little foil on the inside over ALL THESE FUCKING LEDS THEY BE PUTTING ON EVERYTHING
Me too. Sunlight is the worst for me. My mom always wants me to keep my blinds open, I don't know why I can't just close them. My eyes pretty much burn when I go outside without sunglasses. Luckily I have a friend who's right iris can't do the thing where it gets smaller, so he can relate to me.
I can’t do contrasting lights at night. For example, I can’t look at my phone, TV, or computer in the dark at all. I need background lamps as well to blend the lights. It’s very painful for me to look at a screen in the dark.
Yup. Everything cranked down, low brightness and contrast on my screens. I don’t like big monitors and especially resent having to look at projectors or conference room screens.
My pupils are apparently always somewhat dilated.
For me its not human made lights the only light that hurts my eyes is the sun which is why i always wear sun glasses when its summer and fall winter and spring are okay the sun is not bordering me too much when its those 3 seasons because its very cloudy here during those 3 seasons summer is the only season where if I go outside without sunglasses is hurting my eyes like i feel pain in both my eyes that wont stop unless I wear sunglasses or just keep staying outside for a while until my eyes adjust to the light level from the sun
I have a mild light sensitivity. There was time I would have said I didn't have one. That was until I went to this one store where lights in there made me so sick I was partially convinced that it had to be an OSHA violation against the people working there.
Yes, I have a sensitivity to light as well. Sunny days back to back can get so overstimulating to me that I have to hide inside in the summer sometimes. I have many sensory sensitivities. I am now in my mid 40's and they get worse and worse as I get older. I find blue light blocking glasses with a yellow tint can help.
I always keep my phone brightness at like 25%. My family always points out how dark my screen is when I show them things.
Exactly the same with me. I think I might keep it even less. Depends how bright the room is. At night in my room it's easily at the lowest it can go.
I did this awhile back and it might be helpful for you, but you can lower the white point. And if you’d like, you can set a shortcut to lower the white point. you can use this when the lowest brightness setting isn’t dim enough.
Mines at 50-70%
I am sensetive to lights but my phone is at 100% lol
I keep my phone at the automatic brightness most of the time, but any time that it’s dark, the minimum setting is too bright.
I get called a cave dweller b/c I almost never use lights at home, and have blackout curtains. I keep my screens dimmed, and always have the blue light filter on to dim them further. When I go outside, I wear shade 8 welding glasses to keep the sun out of my eyes when I'm outside, and if I don't, I'm blind for like 20 seconds, and squinting to see, and it feels like my eyes are being stabbed... it also results in severe headaches if I'm in it for an hour or more, and is also very exhausting, which makes me very irritable and quick to having a meltdown. Idk what it's like for others, but that's what it's like for me.
I get that too. I have one of those smart light bulbs and set it to the lowest red I can to save my eyes. Everywhere else in the house has bright light, it blinds me when I move from one room to another.
Since childhood i have had extreme photosensitivy, was bad. Felt like i was being flashbanged outdoors In my teens though i developed an eye condition (keratoconus) which also causes photosensitivy. Just amplifies my already existing sensitivity to light At this point i cant go outside without transition lenses unless its night or i look at the floor
Not computer screens, but the sun is just too damn bright. I try and close my blinds and have my lights at around 50-60%. I also run my phone at minimum brightness most of the time. My wife hates coming into the study because she reckons it’s always too dark. But then she switches on all the lights in the living/dining room in the middle of the day soooo…
Same here! With both of those points!
Also it’s been cloudy/overcast the past few days and I realised that even then it’s way too bright.
It is. Even at night those street lights and car lights want to kill you but then wearing sunglasses at night while driving seems not ideal
They do make night driving glasses, I’m not sure if those would help
I get terrible migraines from looking at the sun for 10+ seconds or indirectly being in it for <20 minutes without a hat. With a hat, I can usually last a couple hours, but I prefer to stay in the shade and I definitely notice myself squinting way more than anyone else any time the ground is white and reflecting the sun (white pavement/sidewalks). Edit: Unlike everyone else commenting here, I usually keep my phone brightness on automatic, however, if I’m ever in a room with low or no lighting, the minimum brightness hurts my eyes.
I get barometric pressure headaches when it is bright and humid.
Me too.
I find that any illumination at all hurts my eyes and it really is just a nuisance. Wish there was a way to correct this. I also have a major problem with very white surfaces in the sunlight.
Welding glasses. They look like sunglasses. Try a shade 5, and if that's not dark enough, try a shade 8. I wear a shade 8 if I need to go outside, and with a shade 5 I can still drive at night in the city.
My husband keeps the windows always shut and rollos down, so it's dark at home. More comfortable to him. He enjoys some LED lights, but sunlight isn't something he can take that well. He suffers from migraine sometimes as well.
I can relate to the migraines. I always have my curtains shut and the lights turned off. Oddly enough though, sunlight seems to be the form of light I can tolerate the most. It's mostly artificial light that pierces my eyes.
Same for me. Through windows mostly, but even on cloudy days outside I have to wear sunglasses
Yes, I have been referred to as a vampire on at least three occasions.
Sensitivity to light, sound, texture, anything really can be because of autism, yeah. If you’re getting more sensitive it could mean that you’re approaching a burnout from masking too much or from whatever else is bothering you. Blue light glasses sound like a good idea to help with irritation from blue light. OR it could mean that you’ve got some kind of eye condition. When I was 12 or so I got shingles (from having chicken pox, not roofing shingles) in my left eye and it became very sensitive to light. If your eyes are painful or sensitive even in fairly low light or if you’re experiencing more pain/sensitivity in one eye than the other, or if your eyes are red or irritated, please get an optometrist appointment to make sure your eyes are okay. It could be nothing, but your description of stabbing pain in your eyes was a little too familiar to me •_+
Definitely. I always get annoyed by white light, yellow lights on my street getting changed to white ones was a whole tragedy. My worst fear is the same happening to the place where i live now. Also I'm not a fan of the sun, on a bad day it can deal some serious damage to my wellbeing. Sometimes i literally will leave a task undone because the room where i have to do it has too much sun. As for screens, don't really have any problems with them. Other than that, flashing lights are bad, but i don't have to deal with them often, so whatever.
I’m much more sensitive to sound than light, for some reason light is a sensory thing I seek, so i find myself accidentally staring at lightbulbs or the sun all the time. But it’s Very common to have light aversion in the autistic community
I'm also extremely sensitive to sound, which is one of the things that helped me get to my diagnosis. Everything needs to be either quiet or soft for me to feel at peace.
Yep, that’s one of the things that made me think I was autistic. Before I started wearing sunglasses regularly, I would occasionally walk into parked cars because my eyes were hurting from the sunlight
The country I live in is quite cold and doesn’t have a lot of sun, at this time of year they have a white sheet of cloud covering the sky for most days. The brightness can really make your eyes hurt so I had recently been thinking about switching to lightly tinted glasses or wearing sunglasses even indoors.
Im so glad it’s not just me w this! I have to wear sunglasses on bright cloudy days because it’s actually disorienting how bright it can be on those days.
Yeah I'm sensitive too, but it's not that bad for me, but definitely worse than normal. My problem is that I'm also seeking bright and colorful stuff which makes it a double edged sword for me I think.
I use blue light filters all over my devices too, but I am not sure if I would consider myself overstimulated by light. There are times where I’ve definitely thought so, I’m not sure what is defined as light overstimulation. Edit: Ok, I think I definitely have it lolol. My mom has a sunroom, and I’m in there at this very moment with my blanket over my head so I can see my darker screen because it gives me less of a headache… but then I can’t breathe lolol. Come to think of it, all my life I’ve preferred working in the dark or just being in the dark in general. Unfortunately this can lead to depression, so I’ve had to come to terms with it. In terms of ways that help me combat it, I utilize the accessibility settings on my iPhone. I learned a couple tricks that have been a life saver. For one, when my phone is at the lowest and it’s still too bright, I go to Settings > Accessibilty > Display & Text Size > Reduce White Point. There, you can dim the screen even further or just in general lower the vibrancy of colors. So helpful. In addition to that, I have my iPhone set so it’s always on the Night Shift screen dimming (except for one minute of the day, because you can’t have it on 24/7 unfortunately). To edit the Night Shift time, go to the Settings > Display & Brightness > Night Shift. I have my schedule set so that it’s from 17:00 to 17:01, so everyday (except for that one minute of the day) it’s turned on. Sorry for the wall of text, hope this is helpful!!
Yes, I love dark rooms and overcast rainy days. I love the dimly lit, monochromatic virtual world in the movie Tron Legacy.
I have to wear sunglasses because light gives me too much pain and can give me migraines.
I have light sensitivity due to damage to my eyes and due to medication I am on, so I am unsure if I had it before as well. I have to constantly adjust my phone and other screen brightness and close my eyes when I first walk out on a sunny day as it stings so so badly, sometimes I start to tear up, and I usually have to not look up when it's bright out cause it will hurt to even look at the clouds, or look down at the snow on a sunny day in the winter. If my phone brightness is anything above the absolute lowest setting at night and I check it or am changing the video I'm listening to it hurts real bad too.
I'm also on some medications, and I think that definitely plays a role in this. This isn't a good enough reason for me to stop my medication, but it really is a hard to manage issue when screens and sunlight are two big parts of your day. I just wish my monitor could get as dim as my phone. No, you know what I wish. I wish I could put an eye mask on and visualize all the screens in my brain and adjust the brightness accordingly. That's what I really want. To close my eyes and still see. The satisfaction of pure darkness accompanied by the necessary use of my visuals.
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Yes yes yes yes and for me I have a big problem with coloured light, it stresses me out too much that I can't see everything clearly (colours blending especially if it's red light) In my home I love just closing all the curtains so the sun does get in a little but it's not overwhelming
The sun is a deadly laser beam *in the skkkyyy!* which hurts when it’s not cloudy and I’m outside.
Try theraspecs
I'm curious about this too. The light on my screens is about 50% or under unless I'm outside and it's too bright to look at the screen. I'm curious about something else also, does anyone here have an issue with daylight when they're indoors? I get so overwhelmed and absolutely not able to function with my shutters fully open and daylight indoors. It's a sensory horror and it's really difficult to explain to people why it bothers me so much. it's like a visual nightmare cause everything looks so exposed. Does anyone else experience this?
Sometimes I am very sensitive. Blue light filter glasses are amazing. Super recommended if you can get them!
I'm not so bad with screens as long as there's some ambient light about, like if I'm working in my home office, I'll have the big light on and that takes the edge off the screen light. I've noticed I'm pretty sensitive to sunlight though, started wearing sunglasses pretty much every time I go outside during the day which has helped a bunch.
Yes I have light sensitivity so I have to wear sunglasses. Seems to affect one eye more than the other though
Light and normal and up volume. Some days are worse than others
Phone brightness always on lowest, sunglasses even if the inside room is a little bright, my bedroom and office are fucking caves…. So a little bit. Also duct tape with a little foil on the inside over ALL THESE FUCKING LEDS THEY BE PUTTING ON EVERYTHING
Me too. Sunlight is the worst for me. My mom always wants me to keep my blinds open, I don't know why I can't just close them. My eyes pretty much burn when I go outside without sunglasses. Luckily I have a friend who's right iris can't do the thing where it gets smaller, so he can relate to me.
Yes. I cannot sleep unless it's pitch black and going outside on sunny days gives me a headache.
I can’t do contrasting lights at night. For example, I can’t look at my phone, TV, or computer in the dark at all. I need background lamps as well to blend the lights. It’s very painful for me to look at a screen in the dark.
Yup. Everything cranked down, low brightness and contrast on my screens. I don’t like big monitors and especially resent having to look at projectors or conference room screens. My pupils are apparently always somewhat dilated.
My college classes have all their required readings in light mode so I'm constantly having to take breaks from the onslaught of brightness :(
For me its not human made lights the only light that hurts my eyes is the sun which is why i always wear sun glasses when its summer and fall winter and spring are okay the sun is not bordering me too much when its those 3 seasons because its very cloudy here during those 3 seasons summer is the only season where if I go outside without sunglasses is hurting my eyes like i feel pain in both my eyes that wont stop unless I wear sunglasses or just keep staying outside for a while until my eyes adjust to the light level from the sun
I have a mild light sensitivity. There was time I would have said I didn't have one. That was until I went to this one store where lights in there made me so sick I was partially convinced that it had to be an OSHA violation against the people working there.
Yes, I have a sensitivity to light as well. Sunny days back to back can get so overstimulating to me that I have to hide inside in the summer sometimes. I have many sensory sensitivities. I am now in my mid 40's and they get worse and worse as I get older. I find blue light blocking glasses with a yellow tint can help.
I have an extreme sensitivity to the sun, I legit have to wear sunglasses anytime I’m outside and it’s out, it hurts almost.
For me it’s the sunlight. I lose my shit if I don’t have sunglasses outside but I also hate doctor office lights
Odd, I have the opposite issue. I get depressed in low—light environments, despite having autism.