I am not one to jump onto the latest fad but I am open to new ideas. I was amazed at the amount of information related to cybersickness, even though my Microsoft Ward software does not recognize it as a word.
Over the weekend, I have been dealing with increased nausea and dizziness. It occurred some last week, but increased, as the weekend got closer. I am not ill and ran 8 miles on Saturday. I am relatively healthy. Nothing about my life has really changed except the fact that I began an Army school that requires more and more reading. Most of this reading takes place on my iPad, and much of this reading jumps between many different screens. As I sat on Sunday, I tried to figure out what was going on, I googled: “feel sick while reading iPad.” Soon several articles were listed including those that referred to iOS7 causing cybersickness in users.
The best explanation offered was written in a NBC News story on iOS7 and cybersickness. The article stated that the “new software also produces the impression of zooming in and out when a user switches between applications, which may confuse the brain into thinking that the person is moving.” This phenomenon is then transferred to have the effect of motion sickness. Scientific American magazine had a story about motion sickness that explained why reading in a moving car makes some people sick. The effects of cybersickness occur for the same reason except a little different. In a moving car, the car is moving but you are not. On an iPad, the iPad icons and windows are moving but you are not. The confusing effect on the brain is the same.
So what do I do about it? Thankfully, Apple has a solution built into iOS8 (current software) If you are experiencing this effect, find your settings, the find your “General” tab, click though the “Accessibility” tab, and the final step is to turn the “Reduce Motion” option to “on”. Once this setting is made, you will begin to notice that the movement on the iPad is moving much slower on the screen. Another tip I saw recommended changing the background on the home scree to black reducing the 3D effect of the icons.
I was amazed to see so much had been written on this little known occurrence and, probably, not very often occurring occurrence. However, for a guy that has gotten motion sickness sense he was very young, it makes perfect sense to me.
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Photo: Wikipedia/Justinhu12
[…] Therefore, I encourage you; if you missed it to go back and read yesterday’s post regarding cybersickness, if you missed […]