Why the Color Test Doesn't Work on Our Glasses

Blue light blocking glasses get met with a bit of skepticism in the online world, and for good reason. With a gimmick a month swooping into the Amazon product listings to capture your hard-earned cash, we don’t blame the skeptics around here — we humor them.

One test designed to gauge the efficacy of blue light blocking glasses is the color test. Here’s how it works:

You put on your blue blocking glasses and look at two spectrums
With your glasses on, they should look the same
With your glasses off, one should have a blue section in it

The idea here is that if the blue light blocking glasses are doing their job, you won’t be able to see any of the blue in the spectrum. If you can see it, then they’re junk.

Here’s the thing: this test doesn’t work on our computer glasses, and it’s not because our glasses don’t work.

Here’s why.

Why People Wear Blue Light Blocking Glasses

To understand this test (and why it doesn’t work on our glasses), you first need to understand a little bit more about blue light.

Blue light is like sunlight — a sort of artificial daylight that has the power to disrupt sleep cycles, cause hormonal imbalances, and is way harder on the eyes. Electronic screens all emit a spectrum of blue light, which is why too much screen time makes us such total insomniacs. Even just a few minutes of screen time can delay the release of melatonin, the sleep hormone, by hours.

People wear blue light blocking glasses because they prevent this light from messing with their brains. Computer glasses are big with gamers, but they’re also big with parents concerned with too much screen time for their kids, people who work on the computer a lot, or even just smartphone addicts who own up to never being able to put their gadgets down.

Blue Light Blocking, NOT Blue Blocking

Now let’s get a little deeper into what the blue light spectrum actually is — a spectrum. There’s more than one kind of blue light, and in fact, the range is pretty huge on the spectrum.

The most harmful kind of blue light hangs out between 400-430 nanometers, which is a pretty narrow range in the scheme of things. This super high energy blue light is actually what’s referred to as ultraviolet, or UV light, and they’re the most harmful blue light rays on the spectrum.

We want our customers to be able to see the rest of the color spectrum normally, so we designed our computer glasses to block out this specific set of blue light. This way, you get all of the benefits of blue light blocking glasses without the intense color distortion you’ll experience in an orange lens.

The Difference Between Orange Glasses and Our Computer Glasses

Orange glasses are the ones that will pass the color test, and the reason is simple enough — these glasses block out all blue light. And hey, there’s nothing wrong with that design.

If you’re a person who’s especially sensitive to blue light or really prone to insomnia, they’re a great option when ours won’t cut it for you. As long as you don’t mind the color distortion, they’re perfectly fine to wear throughout the day but are commonly used at night to help the wearer get better quality sleep.

Keep in mind though, wearing orange glasses constantly can have its own set of adverse effects. (Go figure, right?) Wearing them excessively actually blocks out too much blue light, tricking your body into thinking it’s night and making you sleepy. This can mess with your circadian rhythm, and if it gets out of hand, even cause you to reverse your days and nights.

They also distort color a lot more than our computer glasses. It’s not a problem if you’re using them at night or for basic computing work, but anything design related will be impossible with lenses like this on. Gamers love them for their power, but most opt for a more subtle approach with glasses like ours so there’s less color distortion.

Have you ever tried our computer glasses out? What did you think of them? Tell us about the difference they made for you in the comments below!