Be clear about the efficacy/health implications of apps that filter blue light

[jmorgannz]

Hi there,

Whilst this app doesn't specifically say anything directly about lowering blue light from a phone helping sleep by not disrupting melatonin production; the commonly known reason for specifically blocking blue light is for this reason.

I think it is important in the interest of being straight up for users and not risking any chance of perpetuating any misinformation, that the app/repo readme directly speak to this.

Whilst studies have shown that blue light does indeed inhibit melatonin production which would disrupt circadian rhythms; there are no studies which show that using a blue filter on devices such as phones and tablets have any effect on helping this.

In fact the latest studies to come out actually show that they have no effect on it at all.

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/blue-light-filter-smartphone-night-shift-sleep-study/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352721821000607

Across our full study sample, there were no differences in sleep outcomes attributable to Night Shift. For individuals who regularly obtained adequate sleep, abstaining from screen use resulted in better quality sleep than did phone use with Night Shift enabled.

Don't get me wrong; I use a blue filter on my phone. I figure, it doesn't hurt; so why not if there may be some chance it will help.

But I believe if you are making an app available that works off this principle, you have a responsibility as a perceived authority on the subject to ensure honesty; users should be at least as informed as possible so that they can make better decisions on possible other courses of action that may better help their sleep problems, such as investing in room lights that replace blue with violet, or other solutions - rather than just thinking they have fixed the issue because they are using your app.
A simple link for people who decide to dig into the details would be all that is needed I think.

No argument that maybe its easier on the eyes in a dark room using the features of your app though!
My phone has the feature built in - but maybe your app has better features. Will try it out!

:)

[smichel17]

To be completely honest, despite using this app for years, I have not spent any effort searching for or reading the relevant research. I started using Red Moon because I found it was personally helpful. That morphed into maintaining the app when I wanted to add some features and it turned out to be an easy code base to work in. I've put in less time over the years for a number of reasons, which I explained in #281.

To reflect that, I phrased the readme carefully, with these goals:

1. Avoid making any medical claims
   • …or giving a misleading impression.
2. Explain why someone might want to use the app
3. Be brief

I remember 1 and 3 being hard to balance, but I think it's currently pretty good. Still room for improvement. I'm not going to put in the time for wordsmithing myself, but I'd happily accept a PR. I think the best approach would be:

• So, swap the order of the sentences so that the first one is about Red Moon making your phone more comfortable to use at night. The first sentence has the most emphasis, so this would help avoid false impressions up front.
• In the second part, mention something along the lines of, "…although it's unclear whether a filter like Red Moon will help."
• Add a section with more detailed information and links to the studies. Mention it in the intro ("More details below").