Make the tablet comfortable to read on for an hour
Set up a tablet so long reading does not tire your eyes.
Eye strain on a tablet is almost never your eyes. It is three settings that arrived wrong from the factory.
The first is text size. Tablets ship at a size chosen to make the screen look impressive in a store, not to be read for an hour. Every tablet has a text size control that most people never touch.
The second is brightness. A screen should look like a page in the room you are sitting in. If it glows brighter than the lamp beside you, it is too bright. Automatic brightness handles this well once you turn it on.
The third is color temperature at night. Screens lean blue by default. Evening modes warm that toward the color of a paper page under a lamp. It is not magic and it is not medicine, but many people find it more restful.
There is one more thing worth knowing. Your public library almost certainly lends electronic books to a tablet through an app, using your existing library card. No mailing, no late fees, and the book simply returns itself.
Key points
- Factory text size is chosen for stores, not for reading.
- Automatic brightness matches the screen to your room.
- Warm evening color makes long reading more restful.
- Your library card lends books straight to the tablet.
- If an hour is uncomfortable, change a setting.
What to remember
- Both of these live in Display settings on a real tablet, in almost the same order.
- Before deciding a device does not suit you, try the settings it shipped with turned down.
- Borrowing books this way costs nothing and cannot go wrong, which makes it worth one afternoon of setup.
Try this
Tonight, open Display settings, raise the text size one level, turn on the warm evening screen, and read for twenty minutes to feel the difference.
Practice: Make the tablet comfortable to read on for an hour. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.