How to Reduce Eye Strain During Video Calls

Video calls combine several things that strain eyes: staring at one spot for a long time, blinking less, bright screens, and often poor lighting. A day of calls can leave eyes dry, sore and tired. Small changes to your setup help a lot.

Why calls are hard on your eyes

• Fixed focus: you look at faces at the same distance for long stretches.
• Less blinking: concentrating on a screen reduces how often you blink, so eyes dry out. See why blink rate drops on screens.
• Self-view: watching your own face adds to visual and mental fatigue.
• Glare and contrast: a bright screen in a dim room, or a window behind the screen.

Position the screen and camera

• Keep the screen about an arm's length away.
• Put the top of the screen at or slightly below eye level, so you look slightly down.
• Raise a laptop on a stand or books so the camera is at eye level, and use a separate keyboard if you type during calls.
• Place the call window near the camera, so you're not looking off to one side all day.

Fix the lighting

• Face a window or soft light rather than having it behind you or behind the screen.
• Avoid working in a dark room; a lamp behind or beside the screen reduces the contrast your eyes deal with.
• Match screen brightness to the room. If the screen looks like a light source, it's too bright.

Reduce what you look at

• Hide self-view once you've checked your camera.
• Use speaker view rather than a grid of many faces.
• Turn video off for calls that don't need it, and look away from the screen while you listen.

Blink and rest

• Blink fully and deliberately a few times every so often.
• Follow the 20-20-20 rule between calls: every 20 minutes, look at something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. See how the 20-20-20 rule works.
• Leave five minutes between calls. Google Calendar's Speedy meetings setting does this automatically.
• Use lubricating eye drops if your eyes feel dry; air conditioning and heating make it worse.

Evening calls

For calls late in the day, warm and dim your screen. Blue Light Filter adds an adjustable amber layer over web pages, including browser-based calls, on a schedule you set. Your system's Night Light or Night Shift covers desktop apps.

When to see an optometrist

If strain continues after you've changed your setup, get an eye exam. Uncorrected vision, or glasses meant for a different distance, often cause screen discomfort. See setting up an ergonomic workstation.