system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Using laptop at night in the dark - does it damage your eyes?

Hi scientists of reddit,

My girlfriend told me it was common for people to go blind whilst working by candlelight centuries ago.  I tend to do a lot of my work on the laptop before bed.  So it's not uncommon for me to be on my laptop in a dark room.  I've never really thought of the possibility of the laptop light damaging my eyes before as I find they adjust fairly quickly.  So reddit, am I hurting myself? What precautions can I take? Should I keep the light on from now on?
gpt
"Reading in the dark" and suchlike activities which "damage your eyes" are old wives tales.

Quality and quantity: If the light emitted by the laptop screen contains dangerous wavelengths (very-high frequency light, UV and up), or if the laptop produces huge amounts of light (think car headlight) so that you have to squint to look at the screen, then it may damage your eyes. If neither, then looking at the screen does nothing to your eyes, because they're just doing what they are designed to do: collect, focus and encode light patterns.

On the contrary - people who constantly spend time workign in low light levels actually improve their ability to function under such conditions. They don't develop *better* night sight, they just get better training.

All things said, it's still not healthy for your eyes to stare at surfaces that are an arm's length away for hours, days, month and years - which people working with computers end up doing. THere are many exercises you can do to mitigate ill effects in this regard.