How To Avoid Screen Burn

Whether you’re using a laptop, netbook, tower, or tablet, if you’re connected to separate peripherals (such as a docking station, monitor, or printer) you’re probably costing your employer more money than you have to. It is very important to know how to avoid screen burn.

Many office users fail to power down their peripherals at the end of the working day, and this causes undue power usage throughout the evening. Consider powering down all of your peripherals at the end of the day to conserve energy costs.

Separate monitors, for example, have no impact on the computer systems they’re attached to. No IT department in the world would ever ask you not to turn off a separate monitor, and you really should for two reasons: one, to conserve power, and two, to avoid screen burn.

How to Avoid Screen Burn

“Screensaver” application were designed for computer users that couldn’t turn off their computers. They display a changing set of images so that phosphorus dots on older monitors did not become over- or under-energized by having the same ‘dots’ active for long periods of time.

Once the ‘screensaver’ was firmly entrenched in the user-space, it became a matter of habit to activate and use it as a justification for not powering down, but with the invention of LCD and other non-phosphorous based imaging devices, the need for a screensaver has completely vanished.

While older, phosphorous based CRT monitors could experience ‘screen burn’ from as little as 3-5 days of constant exposure to the same output, more modern LCD screens can experience several weeks’ worth of continuous stimulation without experiencing ‘screen burn’. But, they still draw power when they’re on. And many draw power, even in the ‘standby’ mode that may be programmed into them by either the computer they’re attached to, or by the manufacturer. This allows them to return to a working state very quickly, but with a constant, low power draw. Turning them off delays return to a fully functional state by a mere few seconds, at most, and requires less power than leaving them in standby mode overnight.

It’s more than worth it to turn off your peripheral monitor at the end of the day, and simple to do so. From our experience, we’ve learned that’s how to avoid screen burn. Just press that little circle with the dash in it on the front of the monitor and walk away. Your screen will appreciate you, and your boss will appreciate you trying to save him some money, and the environment.

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