iOS7 making people sick

[Crowley]

Is iOS 7 making you feel sick? Here's why

Apple's new iOS 7 software is apparently making some people seasick on solid ground. Experts on motion sickness say the sharpness of the screen and the motion of the icons may be partly to blame.

Users who have upgraded to iOS 7 are reporting nausea, headaches and vertigo in a message thread that started Sept. 18 on Apple's support website.

"I just used my phone for about 20 minutes, and now I feel like I'm going to vomit," one user wrote in a comment on the site. Another said, "It's exactly how I used to get car sick if I tried to read in the car."

iOS 7 has animations and a dynamic background that were not in previous versions of the software, which is used on iPhones and iPads.

"We haven't done any experiments with this phone, but this is what I think is happening — it's definitely linked to the motion of the screen," said psychologist Frederick Bonato, of Montclair State University in New Jersey, who has studied cybersickness. "Also, the resolution is very high, so you've got a very sharp, clear image — moving."

The icons on the phone constantly move slightly, and with the background, this produces a 3D impression, or a parallax effect, making it look as though the icons are floating above the background. [ 9 Odd Ways Your Tech Devices May Injure You ]

"Seeing a three-dimensional space, on a phone you know is flat," can trigger queasy feelings, Bonato said.

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.

"Visually, the input is indicating that the person is moving, but all the other senses indicate the person is not moving — or, even worse, with these phones, is moving in a different way," Bonato said.

Such conflicting information can cause dizziness, headaches and nausea — effects that can also sometimes be caused by IMAX movie theaters and flight simulators. Although phone screens are much smaller than movie-theater screens, phone screens are placed closer to the eyes, which means the visual input dominates the brain, experts said.

"With the iPad, it's even worse, because it's larger and is covering more of your field of view," said Andrea Bubka, who researches cybersickness at Saint Peter's University in Jersey City, N.J.

Some users may also experience eyestrain due to the parallax effect.

"It looks three-dimensional, but it's actually two-dimensional. When that happens, your eye doesn't know exactly where to focus," Bonato said.

Higher-resolution and sharper images in iOS 7 may make the visual input look less like it is coming from a display, and more like a piece of the real world.

"I'm not surprised to hear this about iOS 7," said Thomas Stoffregen, a professor of kinesiology who studies motion sickness at the University of Minnesota. "As imaging technology develops across platforms, and we get greater frame rates and resolution, we find an increasing tendency for it to make people sick."

Source

And here I thought I was the only one

 

[grok]

It makes me sick too .. and I haven't even got an iPhone!

 

[cerebus]

If only there was a way to turn off that pesky parallax effect. Something in Settings for instance...

 

[ToxicBunny]

You mean something like > Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion?

I mean its not like Apple would ever think of doing something as simple as that.... hey?

 

[Azbubu]

The motion feature automatically switches off when detecting vomit on the screen.

 

[Bizkit87]

The motion feature automatically switches off when detecting vomit on the screen.

haha, "Siri has detected vomit on the screen, seeing as the time is 15h30, it will assume you have motion sickness"

if it was 2am

"Siri has detected vomit on the screen, seeing as the time is 02h00, do you want to phone the ex-girlfriend?"

 

[jannievanzyl]

If only there was a way to turn off that pesky parallax effect. Something in Settings for instance...

You mean something like > Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion?

I mean its not like Apple would ever think of doing something as simple as that.... hey?

Surely you don't expect users to actually go and look in the 'Settings' tab for a setting?

 

[bwana]

Surely you don't expect users to actually go and look in the 'Settings' tab for a setting?

Under settings, sure. But burying it under accessibility? It's a bit of an odd place and not where most people would immediately look.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Agreed, it is a bit of an odd place..
but it took me all of 10 seconds with google to find it.

 

[bwana]

Agreed, it is a bit of an odd place..
but it took me all of 10 seconds with google to find it.

Yeah, but if you don't know why you're suddenly feeling a little queasy...

 

[cerebus]

Of course if you were the kind of person who gets queasy from parallax effects, you probably also can't watch video games without getting ill, or a whole host of other normal behavior, since it's exactly the same condition that triggers those events. But far be it from me to accuse our internet media of cheap tacky Apple-based clickbait sensationalism.

 

[jannievanzyl]

Yeah, but if you don't know why you're suddenly feeling a little queasy...

"feeling queasy when using an iPad" in Bing gave the answer in the top 2 hits.......

 

[mercurial]

:wtf: