What Happened When I Traded in My iPhone for a Samsung
After I heard that the iPhone 12 was banned in France, I traded mine in for a Samsung phone. Here's what happened to my eyes as a result.
For those of you following along, I’ve been experiencing the symptoms of cybersickness for over two years. When they came to a climax last year, I had partially lost my vision and was unable to look at any screen for more than 20 minutes without nearly passing out.
I sought out the help of three eye doctors in 2022 for diagnosis and treatment. Like the vast majority of doctors, they each refused to treat the problem.
The first said it sounded like I had a stroke and told me to find a neurologist.
The second said that my eyes/vision were misaligned and that I needed special prism glasses. Why, I asked. It doesn’t matter, she explained, though she was convinced it was from an accident that I’d never been in. Don’t you want the vertigo and blurred vision to go away? It almost sounded like a threat when she put it that way. Like, stop asking questions and trying to get to the root of the problem or else I won’t fix you.
If she hadn’t designed the prisms the wrong way and left me feeling like I had just stepped off of a carousel, I would’ve accept that treatment without question.
The third doctor gave me an official diagnosis of binocular vision disorder and, more specifically, convergence disorder. She also set me on a better course of treatment — redesigned prism glasses and extensive vision therapy.
Again, though, she didn’t want to be bothered with the cause of the issues. I asked if it had been due to excessive screen time or the incorrect prescription I received during the covid madness. The most she would give me was a “Maybe”.
What she did tell me was that my eyes would never go back to the way they were. I could eventually transition off of the prisms, but I’d have to use them and the vision therapy when my eyes ultimately started to weaken again.
My eyes certainly got stronger over the past year. I wore the prism glasses at all times. I placed blue light blockers over them whenever I sat at my computer. I took a 5-minute break every 20 minutes when working at my computer. I religiously did my vision therapy throughout the week. I also set timers and limits on my phone to reduce my screen time.
The second I faltered with any of these mitigation strategies, though, my eyes started to struggle again.
(eye)Phone Update
Back in September, I discovered that the iPhone 12 had been banned in France. It’s no secret that our smartphones are bad for us, especially the ones with 5G enabled. But the banning really forced me to wake up and take action.
When my eye issues started to get really serious, one of the first things I did was to get rid of my MacBook and buy myself a desktop computer. I’d been staring down at a tiny ass screen for eight-plus hours, five or six days a week, for years. I knew that couldn’t be helping.
I experienced a slight improvement, but not enough to make a difference.
It hadn’t occurred to me that my iPhone 12 (or perhaps any model of the iPhone) was contributing to the problem. But since I’m writing this post, I bet you can guess what happened next.
On October 6, I pulled the plug. My phone was finally eligible for an upgrade. So I purchased the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G. They didn’t have any 4G phones available, so I bought one that had a decent SAR rating.
In case you’re curious, RF Safe is a decent resource.
Go to the RF Safe Score page and look up your phone model. It’ll tell you what percentage of the legal SAR limit your phone is at. This one sits at 54.38% of the legal limit.
I don’t think that radiation is the only thing we need to be concerned about. There’s something with the way modern screens are designed, the flicker effect, and the refresh rate that is not gentle on our eyes. Or maybe the manufacturers just didn’t care enough to test it for eye health (which I suspect to be the case).
Anyways, I started using my new phone on October 15. I noticed an improvement immediately.
While the therapeutics had kept my eyes from going shutting down on me and going bonkers, it hadn’t relieved the pain, blurriness, and the unstable feeling I experienced if I went too long without doing a vision therapy session. Within a couple of days of using the Samsung, my eyes were better. And they’ve stayed that way.
In addition to feeling as though I have control over my eyes again, I can now sit at my computer for long stretches again. Not that that’s a good thing, per se. However, it was really difficult to write in 20-minute bursts and then suddenly stop. Those micro breaks I had to take multiple times every hour were killing me. I’d have to work until 7 or 8 p.m. most nights just to get a single piece done.
Granted, this is all my subjective experience at the moment. Things could change. My eyes could go back to the way they were. I sure fucking hope not, but I guess there’s always that possibility.
I’d make an appointment with my doctor, but I don’t think it’ll matter much to her. I don’t think she’ll acknowledge the reason for the change in my vision. She’ll probably just say that all that vision therapy finally fixed things for good (despite telling me that would never happen).
Could you imagine how much money she and her peers would lose if patients realized that ditching dangerous devices is the quickest and cheapest cure?
Final Thoughts
Even if you’re not experiencing the symptoms of computer vision syndrome or any other ailments at this time, do you really want to wait until there’s a problem to try and fix it?
Because, let’s face it, when you go see a doctor, they’re not going to give two shits about the root cause. They’re going to slap a Bandaid on it so they can keep making money off of your misery over the long term.
So here’s what I’m asking:
Take a look at all the devices you use. Not just your computers and phones, but your headphones, TVs, smart speakers, smart watches, and so on. Do you trust them? If you do, why? Have you done your research on them? Have you checked their SAR level? Have you googled, “Is my [device] making me sick?”
I know it can be expensive to replace devices. But trust me, you’re not going to want the $6,500 bill I’ve been stuck with all because I didn’t ask questions about the devices I use on a daily basis. And because my doctors had no interest in identifying the root cause.
Perhaps the sticking point shouldn’t even be the cost of replacing devices. Perhaps at this point you should be asking yourself which devices you can live without.
wow. That's a dramatic improvement. Thank you for sharing it!