ELi5: Why do phones have blue light filters? What are those blue filters actually doing and or helping? Furthermore, should we be watching ‘blue light levels’ from other devices like TVs, monitors, etc?

Question

I think this might be a blend of the technology/engineering/biology flairs, hopefully I made this post correctly!

In: Technology

Answer 1

Research has shown that blue light specifically causes our body to produce less melatonin, which is the hormone our body uses to help us sleep and help regulate our natural biological clock.

Staring at screens – TV, computer monitors, phones, tablets, etc. – exposes us to colors from *all* of the visible light spectrum, but it’s the wave length of blue light specifically that has this effect. That’s why you can see things like blue light filtered glasses and why your “night time” mode on your computer turns the screen orange and stuff.