Why I Use Dark Mode, and You Should Too

Dark mode means that instead of the default dark text on a light (usually white background), a light color text (white or grey) is presented against a dark or black background. The idea behind dark mode is that it reduces the light emitted by our screens, while maintaining the minimum color contrast ratios required for readability. This makes it more comfortable to read and leads to less strain on your eyes, since you are exposed to less bright white light. Reducing the amount of bright white light into your eyes is especially important later in the day, and for people who spend a lot of time in front of screens.

The use of light colored text on dark background is similar to the setup back-in-the-day when computers used to have green text on a black background, or white text on black background as seen in e.g. MS-DOS. The technical reason for the early CRT computer screens using green for the characters was that the characters were displayed by playing a beam of electrons onto phosphor coating that glowed. Green was the color of the phosphor that was reliable enough and cheap enough to be used effectively.

As time progressed, to encourage people who were not programmers to use computers, interfaces were gradually adapted to resemble paper, e.g. black text on white paper. However, as screen time has dramatically increased over time, this design choice has come at a cost.

What are the Advantages of Dark Mode?

• Reduce eye strain and dry eyes in low-light conditions.
  • “Blue light” (bright white light emitted from our digital devices) makes the brain think that it is sunlight and inhibits the brain to naturally produce melatonin as the day grows darker. The leads to the brain being “wide awake”, which renders winding down and falling asleep more challenging. For more info, see this Harvard article.
  • It is better for low-light settings, such using it in bed without keeping your partner awake or in the cinema without disturbing other people.
    
• Improve content legibility (the degree to which writing or text can be read easily because the letters are clear, the text is printed well, etc.), making it feel easier and more comfortable to consume content.
  • Dark mode improves concentration. When we work on a computer or mobile device without break, our eyes get tired and we experience complications like headaches, and eye strain and eventually interrupting our concentration. In such cases, dark mode significantly reduce screen glare (mostly in dark environment) and improving focus. As the texts appear more prominently on a dark background, the contrast ratio alone helps us concentrate more on the content visible on our screen.
    
• Some say dark mode can also help people with light sensitivity or visual impairment.
  
• Uses a bit less energy, making your laptop/phone battery last longer (if you have an OLED screen).
  • According to a study conducted by Purdue University in 2021, on OLED screen’s dark mode can save around 39 – 47% battery life while keeping the phone at maximum brightness.

What Does the Research Say?

A group of researchers from the University of Central Florida found a significant increase in visual acuity and reduced visual fatigue using dark mode. The research was conducted on head-mounted displays and the dark mode was favored among the participants in complex and low-light backgrounds.

A 2022 study published in the Ergonomics journal, found that younger age groups showed more positive emotions while using dark mode and preferred it for aesthetic reasons.

An article from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, recommends setting devices to dark or night mode in the evening to reduce exposure to blue light. As the lower screen brightness and warm colors of dark mode allow our brain to understand that it is indeed nighttime and can help in falling asleep at a natural pace, thus allowing us to get more sleep in total.

How Do You Set Up Dark Mode?

If you have an iPhone running iOS 13 or an Android phone running Android 10, it will support system-wide dark mode. However, this still only applies to supported apps. Many other apps have their own dark modes that you will need to activate individually. 

Some computer operating systems offer dark mode as well, enabling you to set it up on your desktop or laptop.

How to Activate Dark Mode on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch

1. Go to Settings -> Display & Brightness
2. Select “dark” to turn on dark mode

You can also turn on dark mode from the control center. To do this open the control center, touch and hold the brightness control, then tap “dark mode” on or off. 

Turn on dark mode automatically at sunset or at a specific time:

1. Go to Settings -> Display & Brightness.
2. Select Automatic. 
3. Tap options to set a schedule for dark mode.

How to activate dark mode on Android

1. Go to Settings -> Display.
2. Tap on Advanced.
3. Toggle dark theme on or off

How to Activate Dark Mode on Samsung Phones

1. Go to Settings -> Display.
2. Toggle night mode on or off.

How to Activate Dark Mode on Popular Apps

If you do not have a recent phone or operating system that supports dark mode, you can enable it on many apps individually.

• Facebook Messenger: Click the icon of your profile photo and toggle on the dark mode option.
• LinkedIn: Click the “Me”-icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage. Select Settings & Privacy from the dropdown. In the Account Preferences section, under Display, click Dark mode.
• X/Twitter:
  • On iOS, click your profile image in the top left, then click Settings and Privacy -> Display in iOS, and toggle on dark mode.
  • On Android, click your profile image in the top left, then click Settings and privacy > Display and Sound, and toggle on dark mode.
• Google Chrome:
  • For Android devices, open Google Chrome and at the top right, tap More  Settings  Themes. and toggle on dark theme.
• Gmail: Go to Settings -> General Settings -> Theme. Choose light, dark or system default.
• YouTube:
  • On iOS, tap your profile photo and select Settings -> Appearance -> Dark Theme.
  • On Android, tap your profile photo and select Settings -> General -> Dark Theme.
• Slack: Open the option menu from the top-right corner of any chat, tap settings, scroll down to dark mode, and tap “enable”.

Studies and References

• Effects of Dark Mode on Visual Fatigue and Acuity in Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays
• Dark mode vogue: Do light-on-dark displays have measurable benefits to users?
• Digital Devices and Your Eyes
• Dark user interface, dark behavior? The effect of ‘dark mode’ on honesty
• How much battery does dark mode save?: an accurate OLED display power profiler for modern smartphones
• Effects of Dark Mode on Visual Fatigue and Acuity in Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays