Health Consequences of CRT Monitors?

DigiMan asks: "I was wondering, what are the effects of working on a CRT are on your health - long term. It has recently bothered me that EVERYONE seems to be switching to LCD's - I noticed that Bill Gates was one of the 1st people to do this, even when the cost was super high, and many, many government offices switched to the much more expensive LCD's - despite budget cuts and having to go with the lowest bidder strategy they operate under. Was this ONLY for style and space savings? Is there some health consequence that no one talks about publically. I know that they do emit very low amounts of X-Rays and have a 60Hz magnetic field as well as a 12.5 kHz electro magnetic field (for the raster scan). I work in front of typically 3, 19" CRT's for 12 - 16 hours per day at an average distance of 18". Can these magnetic fields cause Leukemia, or anything else? Is being behind the a cathode ray tube that bad for you?"

Yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Hairy palms and blindness.

Wait, that might be caused by something else...

monitor tan

[DJ Haruko]

Well dang, if I can't get a tan from my monitor, where can I anymore?

Health consequences

[VAXcat]

Heck ya - every time a pixel switches from a 1 to a 0, the resultant decrease in entropic state causes a photon of bit radiation to be launched right at you! Fortunately, as it slowly erodes your frontal lobes, you lose the ability to care about it happening.

I, for one

[SomeGuyTyping]

I, for one, welcome our new LCD overlords.

Um?

[addaon]

If all of us inside the conspiracy have been keeping the secret from you this long, why would we suddenly tell you the deep, dark truth now? Because you asked nicely?

Hmmmm....

[MongooseKY]

*Stares intently trying to find the April Fool's joke in this post*

Yes.

[CarrionBird]

But we're not going to tell you.

ha-HA!

Simpson know all

[stecoop]

Like a poster said one time: google knows all who knows all; therfore, a quick google search for Radiation King reveals

In episode 2F07, Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy. In it, Homer finds himself in his childhood home, and the living room wall has a shadow of Homer as a child burned into it by the Radiation King TV set. The scene then shifts to his memory of watching it in the refulgent radiation of TV the set in the process of creating that distinctive shadow on the wall.

Thus, we have answered your questions: USE LCD until such time it is determined to produces some other kind of Sexual Inadequacy Radiation.

Radiation

[skroz]

Dunno, dude, I'm blind as a bat and have to get awfully close to my monitors. I've DEFINITELY noticed an increase in heat on my face since switching to the LCD.

Go ahead, try it... put your nose up to your LCD. Feel the heat? That's your face cooking right there. Never had that problem with a CRT before. Brain cancer, sure, but no cooked face. I'd rather be pretty than smart.

Re:Bad for your eyes

[arodland]

Yeah, CRTs put out a bit of radiation; so do LCDs. Scientists have theorized that this electromagnetic radiation is, in fact, what allows you to see the picture on the screen.

Re:Probably bad for eyesight.

[suso]

I don't know, maybe with my bad eyesight I failed to see that this might have been some kind of joke and everyone was going to slam me for it. I think the dangers of CRTs are still relavent. Especially since old used ones are now in abundance and probably lots of people are using them for special things like server consoles or multiple monitor setups.

Re:Probably bad for eyesight.

[HTTP Error 403 403.9]

There is also a book by the eye doctor named William Bates...

As a prosperous young man, Dr. Bates was referred by his staff as Master Bates.

Re:Yes

[cyclingargonaut]

Hey, Is that contagious? It sounds like something that's been ailing me....

OF COURSE NOT

[pyrrho]

it's fine! don't worry!

it's great to have millions of high speed electrons sprayed at your head all day!

it's good for you.

it gives your brain conditioning... like a nano-massage... and a tan, you're brain gets a tan.

Also really good? letting a pitching machine hurl baseballs at your face.

Extravagant Billionaires

[ferret70]

EVERYONE seems to be switching to LCD's - I noticed that Bill Gates was one of the 1st people to do this, even when the cost was super high

And man he had to save his pennies! Poor Guy!

Re:20-20-20

[nacturation]

What if the room that you are in is only 19 feet by 19 feet?

Unless your room is a sphere 19 feet in diameter, I'm sure you can sit in the corner and stare along the hypotenuse.

Even?

[nottsp1]

I noticed that Bill Gates was one of the 1st people to do this, even when the cost was super high

I bet it was beans on toast for the Gates' following that spending ludicrousy...

Re:More than just extra space.

[The Spoony]

Who says April Fools jokes have to be limited to the articles?

Re:Simpson know all

[Anonymous Coward]

A related Simpsons quote:

Announcer: Your cable TV is experiencing difficulties. Please, do not panic. Resist the temptation to read or talk to loved ones. Do not attempt sexual relations, as years of TV radiation have left your genitals withered and useless.

Wiggum: [checking under the covers] Well I'll be damned.

Episode 2F18 [snpp.com]

Re:Probably bad for eyesight.

[jessecurry]

It's no problem for me because I only read this site. [thebestpag...iverse.com] Other than the occasional /. session :)

The risk is worth the reward

[CaptainCarrot]

Of course they're dangerous. They also suck down massive amounts of power. Between that and the heat they put out, stressing a building's HVAC system something fierce, flat panel displays pay for themselves in energy savings in a year or so.

That's one reason government agencies switched, but there are other factors. As is well-known from such classic scientific research milestones as the G-bomb, the first private venture into space using insufficient spacecraft shielding, or poisoning by spiders exposed to ionizing radiation, the kind of hazardous rays that CRTs emit (especially from the back) have been known to induce superpowers in humans. Since the extent and strength of these powers are not predictable, the government is doing everything it can to avoid having them bestowed on listless, apathetic bureaucrats.

Bill Gates acquired superpowers years ago, of course, so he got rid of his CRT because he no longer needed the radiation. His power? He attracts money. The whole Microsoft thing is just a front to keep his power from public view so he can just exercise it over the normal course of the day. (And a good thing too. Can you imagine him in spandex?)

For true powers-seeking geeks, of course, the best course of action is to surround yourself with as many CRTs as possible. Gaming and graphic hardware companies know this, and since geeks are their main customer base both industries have been working toward their empowerment for quite some time now. This is the real reason for nVidia's TwinView technology, for example, and also the real reason why games are not developed for Linux necessitating a Windows box sitting next to the useful one. (After all, the more boxes you have in your house, the more CRTs you have pumping out those healthful X-rays.) It's no coincidence that most games involve the exercise of some kind of superhuman ability: they're trainers.

Sure, there's a serious risk of contracting some kind of cancer here, but considering the potential gains a cost/benefit analysis clearly favors bathing yourself in that wonderful blue glow.

CRT = 100% DEATH!

[WaterDamage]

I've switched to LCDs as soon as I could get my hands on them and I've been feeling better since the move. I'm one of those very sensitive people where if I keep a cell phone longer than 5 minutes next to my ear I get a headache and my ear starts to hurt but not if I use a headphone. I happen to work in a hospital and whenever I pass through the radiology rooms I instantly get dizzy and feel like passing out in less than 5-10 of being in them. This is not a phobia, I'm not afraid of them, but my body picks up and feels the extremely strong presence of radiation even when the equipment is not in use.
I have been using CRTs very heavily in the 80's and have noticed that my vision deteriorated extensively in less than a year of serious usage (8+ hours a day) so I believe there may be a strong correlation there. Also, I'm sure that all the x-ray radiation emitted by the CRTs over your lifetime will potentially have a negative effect on your body so don't be surprised if you end up with some weird tumor or mysteriously die! I can't even think of a single positive thing (health wise) about CRTs, if you can, I definitely would love to hear about it! The real question now is, ARE LCDs safe? Given how sensitive I am I think not since I have yet to encounter any negative symptoms from heavy LCD usage.

Time to call an attorney and start a class action suite to sue those damn CRTs companies for causing my vision loss and the thousands I've spent on glasses and contacts over the years. I know I'm not the only one here!