‘Why Can’t I Focus On Them?’
‘Why Can’t I Focus On Them?’

It’s an annual consideration the four of us talk about every Christmas…why can’t our eyes focus on the ‘blue ones’?

Since the days of carefully undoing massive ball of glass NOMAs, like Clark Griswold, so not to easily smash them are (mostly) a memory to most households.

The LED Christmas light craze came on scene in 1998/1999.

They boasted a longer lifespan, plastic light coverings which meant almost no breakage, they didn’t fade in colour if left in place all year, less energy was used in their operation and they were smaller in size so took up less room in storage.

A great deal!

I remember one year when I first saw a tree, like the one in the photo, fully decorated with blue LED lights.

A single blue bulb, here and there, amidst the rest of the colours on a strand, I had never paid attention to the fact that I couldn’t focus on the blue ones. Until, that is, that first monochromatic cobalt tree came along.

Thinking at first that my eyes were just tired or getting old (which didn’t make sense because I had 20/20 vision), I soon realized no matter how hard I tried to focus on those blue LED lights, it wasn’t happening.

Well, it just so it happens to be that, “our eyes can easily focus on fine details in red or green light. But our retinas can’thandle blue light very well. Blue light scatters more widely within the eye and tends to be focused in front of the retina, making it appear slightly out of focus.”-assemblymag.com

Interesting.

So if you felt like you were the only one that ‘couldn’t focus on the blue ones’… you are in good company! and happy light-seeing this holiday season.

As a side note: Here’s an interesting history of the Christmas light for those interested: https://www.christmasdesigners.com/blog/from-edison-to-led-the-complete-history-of-christmas-lights/

Enjoy.

-Becky
['Becky Boughton']
['Light', 'Body', 'Christmas', 'Humour', 'Technology']