Creative Commons License photo credit: timsamoff

Most of your time is spent looking at the monitor. Hence, utmost care should be given in choosing and appropriately placing it in your workstation. Suitable positioning of the monitor would help you reduce exposure to compelling exertions, inept postures, and overhead glare. Possible health issues like extreme exhaustion, eyestrain and related disorders like itching, sty, and power variations of the eye lens, and neck and back pain can be avoided on proper selection of the monitor. The positioning of the monitor should be in concurrence with the other components like the keyboard, desk, and chair.

While using the monitor, ensure the following:

  • Ensure that the monitor is in front of you and at least 20 inches away.
  • Ensure that the top line of the screen is at or below your eye level.
  • Ensure that the monitor is placed perpendicular to the window.

The viewing distance, viewing time, viewing angle, and viewing clarity have to be adjusted to get the best results without affecting your health.

Viewing Distance

Probable Risks

  • You tend to lean forward or move backward thus positioning yourself awkwardly to have a better view of the monitor. Ensure that the monitors are neither too close nor too far so as to strain your eyes.
  • Viewing distance longer than the normal: When you lean forward to view the monitor better, you are straining your eyes as well as your torso. Your backbone doesn’t get any support that causes severe pain on your shoulders and the back.
  • Viewing distance shorter than the normal: There is a tendency to move backward for better focus which in turn causes convergence problem to your eyes. Also you may tend to tilt your head backward or push yourself away from the monitor in which case you may have to outstretch your arms to do the typing. This may cause pain in your arms, fingers, wrist, and elbow.

Feasible Solutions

  • Position yourself at a secure distance from the monitor wherein you can read all text without straining your eyes. Ensure that your head and torso are straight and your chair is firmly supporting the back. Ophthalmologists usually recommend a safe viewing distance between 20 and 40 inches (50 and 100 cm) from the eye to the front surface of the computer screen. If you still feel difficulty reading the text, do increase its font size.
  • There should be ample desk space between the user and the monitor (table depth). If the desk space is not enough, here are some tips:
  1. Pull the desk away from the wall or the divider thus giving more space for the back of the monitor.
  2. Normally flat-panel displays are used which requires less desk space and are not as deep as the conventional monitor.
  3. In order to make a deeper working surface, you can try installing an adjustable keyboard tray.
  • Always remember to adjust the viewing distance between 20 and 40 inches.
  • Flat-panel displays do not consume as much space as the conventional monitors

Viewing Angle–Height and Side-to-Side

Probable Risks

When you work in front of your computer for long hours with your head and neck turned to one side, you are sure to increase fatigue and pain in your neck muscles.

Feasible Solutions

  • While working on your computer, your head, neck, and torso should face forward and hence you need to be careful about positioning of the monitor. The ideal position is to place it directly in front of you. But, if that is not possible every time, the maximum tilt recommended is 35 degrees to the left or right.
  • If your work is chiefly involved with printed matter, it will be ideal to place the monitor a little to the side with the printed matter just in front of you. The distance between the monitor and the printed matter should be minimal.

Probable Risk

Monitors that are placed too high or too low are not recommended for people who have to use computers for long hours per day. It affects the head, neck, shoulders, and the back, as they have to adjust their positions for better view of the monitor. In the long run, the muscles that support the head are fatigued due to these awkward postures.

Feasible Solutions

  • Ensure that the top part of the monitor is either at the same level of your eyes or slightly below it. Also, the center of the monitor should be located 15 to 20 degrees below horizontal eye level.
  • The entire visual area of the display screen should be located so that the downward viewing angle is never greater than 60 degrees when you are in any of the four reference postures. While in the reclining posture, the straightforward line of sight will not be parallel with the floor. This would increase the downward viewing angle. Also, very large monitors increase the angle.
  • Do not to place the monitor above the other equipments like CPU or surge protector. The monitor would be too higher than your eyes that may increase the strain of your eyes, neck, and back.
  • The chair can be raised to lift your line of sight. Ensure that your feet get good support and your thighs can move freely under the desk.

Probable Risks

Those who use bifocal lenses normally view the monitor through the bottom portion of their lenses. In such case, they automatically tilt their head backward to have a better view of the monitor. And if the monitor is placed too high, the muscles that support their head easily get fatigued.

Feasible Solutions

The monitor can be lowered to avoid any kind of strain to the neck and eyes. The screen can be tilted a little upward for convenience.

Viewing Time

Probable Risks

If you view the monitor continuously for long hours without taking breaks, your eyes become dry and exhausted easily. You tend to blink less while working for long hours.

Feasible Solutions

  • Give rest to your eyes every so often by focusing on objects that are at a considerable distance from your seat like a painting on the wall around 20 feet away.
  • Periodically wet your eyes by blinking and looking at distant objects.
  • You tend to slow down in your work if you keep working for long hours on the computer. The ideal solution would be to take breaks in between and attend to other non-computer works like filing, making calls, or interacting with your customers. This gives good rest to your eyes.

Viewing Clarity

Probable Risks

Do not tilt monitors considerably either toward or away from the operator, as the objects on the screen may appear distorted making them illegible. And if the monitor is tilted back, there are chances of the overhead lights creating glare on the monitor. You tend to sit in different unhealthy positions to get a better view of the screen hence straining your eyes and the back.

Feasible Solutions

  • You can tilt the monitor somewhere between 10 to 20 degrees so that it is perpendicular to your line of sight. For this purpose, it is better to have a riser/swivel stand. If this is not possible, you can tilt the monitor back slightly by placing a book under the front edge. But to avoid glare in this case, do use a glare screen.
  • Monitor support surfaces should be user friendly by allowing the user to modify viewing distances and tilt and rotation angles.

Probable Risk

If the image that you view on the screen is of poor quality, your eyes have to strain more to view it properly. The distorted images may be due to electromagnetic fields caused by other electrical equipment located near computer workstations or due to dust accumulation. This is often accelerated by magnetic fields associated with computer monitors and can reduce contrast and degrade viewing conditions.

Feasible Solutions

  • Those equipments with electrostatic potentials more than +/- 500 volts should be kept away from your workstation.
  • Ensure that the monitor is dust free while in use.

Monitor Recipe

  1. Always ensure that the screen is large enough for sufficient visibility. It is acceptable to use a 15 to 20-inch monitor. If the unit is very small, you will find it difficult to read the characters. If the unit is very large, you may require too much space.
  2. Always ensure that the angle and tilt of the monitor can be adjusted without much effort.
  3. For workstations with limited space, flat panel displays are preferred as they take less room on the desk.

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