# Anyone using a Kindle Fire for reading ebooks?



## ringo (May 19, 2014)

I bought one for my littlun (10) but she just uses it for games and Netflix. She's worried that the screen will be too bright to read and she won't be able to get to sleep afterwards because the light will be too stimulating. 

She has a bit of a thing about going to sleep at the moment, so I want to get her into reading at bedtime but only if I can set the screen so its not too bright. I'll have a look at it tonight, see how it looks, but if anyone has any experience of using one to read books I'd be interested in your experiences of using a back lit screen before going to sleep.


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## marty21 (May 19, 2014)

I do sometimes read one in bed - the screen is very light - so perfect for me - i can usually sleep fine afterwards but I don't read it everynight, and I'm not 10.


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## ringo (May 19, 2014)

marty21 said:


> the screen is very light



Do you mean it's very bright? I'll try the settings but maybe I'll have to treat myself to a Paperwhite and give her my old Kindle.


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## 8ball (May 19, 2014)

ringo said:


> I bought one for my littlun (10) but she just uses it for games and Netflix. She's worried that the screen will be too bright to read and she won't be able to get to sleep afterwards because the light will be too stimulating.


 
Suppose you could get her some glasses that block blue light if she's using it in the couple of hours before bedtime.


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## ringo (May 19, 2014)

8ball said:


> Suppose you could get her some glasses that block blue light if she's using it in the couple of hours before bedtime.



Sounds a bit of a faff for a 10 year old.


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## 8ball (May 19, 2014)

ringo said:


> Sounds a bit of a faff for a 10 year old.


 
Well, possibly.  Blue light is the worst for inhibiting melatonin production in the evening, though, and these might not break the bank.


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## Celt (May 19, 2014)

You can adjust the brightness/lightness to suit.


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## marty21 (May 19, 2014)

ringo said:


> Do you mean it's very bright? I'll try the settings but maybe I'll have to treat myself to a Paperwhite and give her my old Kindle.


 it is very bright - I've never bothrered trying to adjust the settings though -


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## ringo (May 19, 2014)

Cheers all, we'll have a look at it tonight, see if I can make it usable for her.


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## dweller (May 19, 2014)

I'd recommend against it. I think backlit screens like kindle fire keep our brains too stimulated even at a dim setting.
I use a simple nook e-reader with a bedside lamp and it is perfect for reading a chapter or two and then nodding off.


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## Corax (May 19, 2014)

IIUC it's not so much the brightness, as the spectrum. Backlit screens contain blue light which stimulate wakey wakey chemicals in the brain (scientific term there). 

A kindle original (or a paper book) with a bedside light may be a better idea.


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## Celt (May 19, 2014)

i use a kindle fire to read, the original one is heavy, the backlit makes it rather power hungry, but that isn't really a problem for me.

for purely reading I would go for the paperwhite, much lighter


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## ringo (May 20, 2014)

We had a go, she turned down the screen brightness and I went into the Kindle app and changed the screen from white to sepia. Didn't seem too bright, she liked reading it before bed and went straight to sleep for the first time in a little while, so very pleased.

I imagine dimming the brightness would reduce the strength of blue light? No idea if the sepia background does. Anyone know?


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## 8ball (May 20, 2014)

ringo said:


> I imagine dimming the brightness would reduce the strength of blue light? No idea if the sepia background does. Anyone know?


 
Dimming the brightness will definitely help (all frequencies will be reduced by this, including blue light), not sure about the sepia but it sounds plausible that it might have a little less of a blue light component.

I had the best night's sleep in ages after wearing blue-blocking glasses while tinkering on the laptop last night - obviously can't rule out a placebo effect and it's just one night but I was surprised how I felt tired and wanted to go to bed a good bit earlier than usual.


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## Corax (May 20, 2014)

8ball said:


> Dimming the brightness will definitely help (all frequencies will be reduced by this, including blue light), not sure about the sepia but it sounds plausible that it might have a little less of a blue light component.
> 
> I had the best night's sleep in ages after wearing blue-blocking glasses while tinkering on the laptop last night - obviously can't rule out a placebo effect and it's just one night but I was surprised how I felt tired and wanted to go to bed a good bit earlier than usual.


Interesting idea with the sepia. I don't know, but thought the blue light was more inherent to the display type tbh. Sounds plausible though - hopefully someone who knows about this kind of thing will be along to confirm or otherwise. 

Good news about the glasses. No surprise IMO. The effect of blue light is really quite striking. My OH has a DVD player with a blue LED clock on it. When we moved in together it was what I'd look at for the time if I woke up in the night, and I'd then be wide awake for ages. I've now positioned something in front of the display, and look at the red LED clock instead - fall back to sleep much, much quicker.


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