Phone Addiction Could Become Less Harmful With New 'Safe Screen' From Philips

Phone Addiction Is Killing Our Eyes, But This Tech Could Stop That

Screen time -- a known sleep disruptor -- is something none of us can escape. Even the most reluctant Instagrammer wants to know if their #nofilter images have received anymore orange love since they opened the app 30 seconds ago.

This incessant need to check our phones is literally killing the retina cells in our eyes.

However, Philips have proposed a new invention that could preserve our eyes while letting us give into our phone addiction -- a so-called "safe screen."

This effectively works to change the wavelength of blue light so it is less harmful to the retina. Philips calls it "SoftBlue."

Unveiled at the IFA tech conference, the company's marketing director, Stefan Sommer said: "We are shifting the harmful blue light frequencies, which are below 450 nanometers, to above 460 nanometers."

Two years ago, Serge Picaud, a french researcher at the Institute of Sight in Paris used pigs' eyes to show how blue light between 415 and 455 nanometres killed retina cells, Phys.org reports.

While Philips' new screen could help mitigate these harmful effects, it is still unclear if it will restore sound sleep.

In 2012, Havard outlined the "dark side" of blue light, which aside from killing retina cells, also messes with how our body perceives night and day.

Its health letter stated blue wavelengths, which boosts attention times, reaction times and mood during the day, can also be incredibly disruptive at night.

Philips has not mentioned whether its news screens will aim to change this but for the time being however, the "safe screen" is still better than nothing.

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