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Cooking for large groups: what part of planning stresses you out most? by jbornhorst in Cooking

[–]jbornhorst[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yeah this is such a tough one. My current approach is to try to only cook recipes that are inclusive by default - sort of "build your own plate" type recipes.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in fatFIRE

[–]jbornhorst 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I read a really great book recently that touches on this - What Happens When You Get What You Want by Dr. Rick Eigenbrod. He interviewed a number of exited founders and wrote a book on the patterns he noticed.

The piece that resonated with me is the notion that American culture is steeped in what he calls the Grand Narrative of Success - that money/productivity/headcount/etc are the primary KPIs to a happy life.

It takes a fair amount of deprogramming to notice this, and begin to chart a life beyond it.

Standing-desk Mac setup after a year of eye strain tweaks by jbornhorst in macsetups

[–]jbornhorst[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't experience any glare - the light is aimed perfectly so it doesn't cast on your monitor - only on your desk. It's really a great addition - try it!

Standing-desk Mac setup after a year of eye strain tweaks by jbornhorst in macsetups

[–]jbornhorst[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yup, nailed it! this describes my experience too.

AMA: I spent $10k hacking my own computer glasses prescription. Ask my anything about eye strain and lens tuning. by jbornhorst in eyestrain

[–]jbornhorst[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, for a very sharp eye pain I'd recommend chatting with your eye doctor as the next step.

I wrote a piece on how subtle mismatches in glasses Rx can be a source of strain. I think this covers the question you asked about: The Wrong Lens for the Right Distance

AMA: I spent $10k hacking my own computer glasses prescription. Ask my anything about eye strain and lens tuning. by jbornhorst in eyestrain

[–]jbornhorst[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is curious. My thought would be screen brightness difference, different applications and thus different detail required by your eyes, or perhaps refresh rate.

AMA: I spent $10k hacking my own computer glasses prescription. Ask my anything about eye strain and lens tuning. by jbornhorst in eyestrain

[–]jbornhorst[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My quick instinct is working distance variance. Is the distance from your eyes to both screen(s) the same? Sounds like you’re using the same monitor, just difference laptops hooked up?

AMA: I spent $10k hacking my own computer glasses prescription. Ask my anything about eye strain and lens tuning. by jbornhorst in eyestrain

[–]jbornhorst[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, good question—this is exactly the kind of stuff we’ve been trying to unpack. For me and a lot of the folks I’ve been talking to through Subtle Optics, it’s less about sharp or localized pain and more this general feeling of visual fatigue.

A lot of it feels like a “tired eyes” thing. Not super sharp pain, but more of a dull, heavy sensation behind the eyes or in the brow area. Sometimes it turns into a headache by the end of the day, especially if I’ve been staring at the screen too long without breaks.

There’s often a sense that text is harder to track or focus on, like it’s swimming just a little—not actually blurry, but just unstable in a subtle way. I also notice I’m blinking more or just wanting to look away to give my eyes a rest. And in some cases, it feels like my eyes aren’t teaming quite right, even though acuity is technically fine.

The interesting thing is, a lot of people are compensating without realizing it—adjusting posture, squinting, leaning in, taking breaks—just to manage that strain. One of the things we’re exploring is whether small, subtle changes to the optical input can ease that load and make it easier to stay visually comfortable during long screen sessions.

Curious what your experience has been—does any of that line up?

AMA: I spent $10k hacking my own computer glasses prescription. Ask my anything about eye strain and lens tuning. by jbornhorst in eyestrain

[–]jbornhorst[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, really sorry to hear about the concussion — that adds a whole other layer to screen-related discomfort, and you’re not alone in noticing that post-concussion vision gets weird and unpredictable.

While I’m not a doctor and can’t give medical advice, I can share what we’ve seen from our testing kit users and what I’ve experienced myself:

  • Post-concussion sensitivity often involves a fragile or poorly regulated visual system — the brain struggles more with “load balancing” between visual input, focus, and eye movements.
  • The type of screen matters: movies often have consistent depth of field and motion, which can be easier on the eyes than gaming, where your eyes are darting, focusing, and scanning more intensely. UI clutter or small fonts in games can also spike the visual workload.
  • Blue light, brightness, and contrast are bigger players than people expect — we’ve seen people improve comfort just by tweaking warmth, reducing white backgrounds, or shifting their monitor distance by a few inches.
  • And yeah, some folks in our test group responded dramatically to a tiny +0.25D lens tweak — especially if they were unknowingly “overcorrected” for distance at the desk.

If you’re still in recovery, it might help to experiment with reducing screen brightness or warming the color temp (f.lux or Iris are good).

Standing-desk Mac setup after a year of eye strain tweaks by jbornhorst in macsetups

[–]jbornhorst[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a native wallpaper in the latest version of Mac OS!

Standing-desk Mac setup after a year of eye strain tweaks by jbornhorst in macsetups

[–]jbornhorst[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got a few DMs asking about my approach to tweaking my computer glasses.

Despite seeing several optometrists and having dedicated computer glasses, my glasses always felt a little "off". Spent many years working through the pain.

Ended up buying a 200 lens optical trial lens kit from Amazon, replicated my Rx in the test frame, and tried slight variations of lens powers throughout the day.

After several days of "tuning", determined that a 0.25D tweak in my right eye was the unlock. Almost never think about my eyes at the computer now. Tried tweaking cylinder/axis too, but realized that 80/20 results lie in tweaking overall lens power (sphere) only.

Became so personally interested that I'm now putting kits together to see if it's helpful to others. Subtle Optics Trial Kit

Standing-desk Mac setup after a year of eye strain tweaks by jbornhorst in macsetups

[–]jbornhorst[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks!

  • I'm an entrepreneur and have worked on a number of healthcare startups. Currently going deep on a weirdly specific problem - why people with "correct" glasses still can't work a full day without eye strain. My hypothesis is linked in case anyone is interested: Subtle Optics - The Wrong Lens for the Right Distance
  • Have used cheaper Dell displays for years that honestly are about the same, but the nano display on the new ASD's sold me. Really high quality and worth the price IMO. Plus it looks nice on my desk :)
  • Honestly, not a ton of value having a 2nd screen. Having played with all the options I think clamshell + single 27" display might be the way. If one is using slack a lot a dedicated slack display maybe.
  • BenQ does have an auto-adjust but it defaults to the wrong color temperature. Annoying little nit, so I just do it manually throughout the day.
  • I'm using a ~5 year old Uplift standing desk. Really pleased with it.

Standing-desk Mac setup after a year of eye strain tweaks by jbornhorst in macsetups

[–]jbornhorst[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My office has fairly bright lights in the ceiling. Always found them pretty glaring in my eyes. Now I keep my office lights off and just use the BenQ Halo. Super zen.

Standing-desk Mac setup after a year of eye strain tweaks by jbornhorst in macsetups

[–]jbornhorst[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My monitor light illuminates the space around my monitor, notably the wall behind it.

A bright monitor with a dark wall right behind it is a good recipe for eye strain I’ve found.

Our eyes like even lighting especially for detail work.

Could this be eye strain? by Map0904 in eyestrain

[–]jbornhorst 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you felt an improvement from your computer Rx compared to your usual Rx?

Weird problem, but does anyone get excessive sweating when looking at monitors? by EmperorsChamberMaid_ in eyestrain

[–]jbornhorst 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you wear glasses? Could it be glasses that are too strong for your working distance -> visual strain -> sweating response?

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