system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How come having the sun visible in your peripheral vision doesn’t permanently damage your vision?
gpt
The pupil of the eye is on the front, so you only get the most intense, direct light when you are looking directly at something.  The further a source of light is from the center of your field of vision, the less of the light will get into your pupil and onto your retina.  This will make it both appear less bright (so the sun doesn't dazzle as much when it is in your peripheral versus direct vision) and do less damage.  

That said, if you stood staring at one exact spot for long enough it very well could do damage.  But we rarely do that, since our eyes are constantly darting around, especially when outside because there are usually a good number of visual stimuli.