A Neurodivergent Guide to Screen Sensitivity
Some people can stare at bright screens all day and feel fine.
Others notice a predictable pattern:
📱 eyes feel tired quickly
🧠 thinking gets foggy
😖 jaw and forehead tension builds
🤕 headache appears “out of nowhere”
😵 nausea or dizziness increases
😤 irritability rises after screens or bright LED-lit rooms
For autistic, ADHD and AuDHD adults, screen sensitivity often involves more than “too much screen time.” It can involve:
💡 brightness and glare
🎛️ flicker (including PWM)
🧠 sustained visual processing load
👁️ focus effort and eye convergence
🧩 visual–vestibular mismatch (motion + scrolling)
This article explains what PWM is, why LEDs can be difficult, and what adjustments typically reduce symptoms.
🧠 Screen sensitivity: the main drivers
Screen discomfort usually comes from a combination of factors. The most common are:
💡 Brightness and contrast (especially bright white backgrounds)
🪞 Glare (reflections, glossy screens, overhead lighting)
🎛️ Flicker (including PWM dimming)
👁️ Eye strain from focus/convergence demands
🌀 Motion (scrolling, rapid transitions, video cuts)
🧠 Cognitive load from multitasking and constant context switching
When several drivers stack, symptoms appear faster.
🎛️ What PWM is (in plain language)
PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation.
Many phones and LED displays do not dim the screen by smoothly lowering the light output. Instead, they dim by:
💡 turning the light on and off very quickly
⏱️ changing how long it stays “on” versus “off”
To many people, this flicker is not consciously visible. But some nervous systems respond to it through:
🤕 headaches
😵 dizziness or nausea
👁️ eye fatigue
🧠 fog and reduced concentration
😤 irritability
PWM sensitivity varies widely. It can also be inconsistent: stronger on low sleep, high stress, or during burnout.
💡 Why LEDs can feel harsher than older lighting
Modern LEDs can create discomfort through:
💡 high intensity, especially cool/blue-heavy light
🪞 glare and harsh reflections
🎛️ flicker (some LED bulbs and fixtures flicker noticeably)
🧩 visual complexity (multiple bright sources in the visual field)
Common environments:
🏢 offices with bright LED panels
🛒 supermarkets and retail lighting
🚉 stations
🚗 car headlights and reflective road surfaces at night
🧠 How screen sensitivity shows up in neurodivergent adults
Typical patterns:
📉 tolerance drops over the day
⏳ symptoms appear quickly at night or after social effort
🧠 focusing on text becomes harder than focusing on images
😵 scrolling triggers dizziness more than static reading
🤕 headaches correlate with brightness or certain rooms
🧊 cognitive “blanking” increases after screen-heavy periods
These patterns are useful for identifying your main driver: brightness, flicker, glare, motion, or sustained focus.
🧪 A quick self-check: which driver fits best?
Try noticing which condition makes symptoms stronger:
💡 Brightness: worse on white pages, sunny reflections, high brightness
🎛️ Flicker/PWM: worse at lower brightness settings, in specific devices/LED rooms
🪞 Glare: worse with glossy screens, overhead lights, windows behind you
🌀 Motion: worse with scrolling, video, rapid transitions
👁️ Eye strain: worse with small text, long reading, close focus
🧠 Load: worse during multitasking, notifications, switching apps
You do not need to find one “perfect cause.” Many people have two or three.
🧰 Practical adjustments that often help
🔆 1) Brightness and contrast adjustments
Try these first because they are easy to test.
📉 lower brightness slightly (but not so low you strain)
🌓 use dark mode when reading text-heavy content
🟠 enable warmer color temperature in the evening
🧾 reduce white backgrounds (reader mode helps)
🔍 increase font size to reduce focus effort
A useful goal: readable without squinting, without “glow” discomfort.
🎛️ 2) Reduce PWM exposure (practical options)
PWM effects often increase at low brightness on OLED displays. Some people do better with:
🔆 keeping brightness above a personal threshold
🌞 using more ambient light in the room (so you can keep the screen brighter without glare)
🟠 using “night shift”/warm tone settings
📱 testing a different device type (LCD vs OLED, different models vary)
If you suspect PWM sensitivity, a simple experiment is:
🧪 keep the same phone and content
🧪 test 3 brightness zones (low / medium / higher)
🧪 track headache/eye fatigue onset time
If symptoms consistently worsen in one zone, that’s a useful clue.
🪞 3) Fix glare in your environment
Glare drives headaches and eye strain quickly.
🪟 sit with windows to the side, not behind the screen
💡 avoid strong overhead LEDs reflecting in your screen
🧼 keep screen clean (micro-glare increases strain)
📐 tilt the screen slightly to reduce reflections
🌀 4) Reduce motion load from scrolling and video
Motion is a strong trigger for dizziness and nausea.
🧭 use “reduce motion” accessibility settings
⏳ break scrolling into short blocks
📄 switch to static reading formats (reader mode, PDFs, saved articles)
🎬 avoid rapid-cut video when already fatigued
If scrolling triggers symptoms, treat it as a motion stimulus.
👁️ 5) Reduce eye strain from focus and convergence
Close focus is work.
🔍 increase text size
🧾 use line spacing (reader mode)
⏸️ use a timer for short breaks
👁️ look far away for 20–30 seconds periodically
A simple reset:
🪟 look at a distant object
🫁 longer exhale
💧 brief hydration check
🔕 6) Reduce cognitive load from the device
Notifications and app switching increase load. Lowering “attention switching” often reduces the physical symptoms too.
🔕 disable non-essential notifications
🧱 use focus modes
📌 keep one app open for a task block
🧾 batch messages into two check-in times
🧰 A simple 7-day experiment (low effort)
Pick one outcome to track:
🤕 headache onset time
👁️ eye fatigue rating
😵 dizziness after scrolling
🧠 fog after 30 minutes
Then test only one variable at a time:
📆 Days 1–2: baseline (no changes)
📆 Days 3–4: adjust brightness + warm tone
📆 Days 5–6: reduce scrolling/motion + reader mode
📆 Day 7: compare patterns
The goal is not perfect tracking. It is identifying one high-impact driver.
🧾 When it’s worth checking more broadly
Screen sensitivity overlaps with several factors. If symptoms are frequent or escalating, it can help to consider:
👁️ vision needs (uncorrected issues increase strain)
😴 sleep debt and circadian disruption
☕ caffeine timing
💧 hydration and meals
💊 medication changes
🤕 migraine patterns
If headaches are severe, frequent, or changing pattern, discussing it with a professional can help rule out other causes.
🪞 Reflection questions
📱 Which screen activity triggers symptoms fastest: text reading, scrolling, video, multitasking?
🎛️ Do symptoms change noticeably with brightness level?
💡 Which environments make it worse: office LEDs, supermarkets, evening screens, car lights?
🧰 Which single adjustment will you test for 7 days?
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