How to Stop Your Device LEDs From Driving You Crazy at Night
Don’t you hate it when every technique you use serves as a night light? Even if you’re struggling not to use your phone or laptop in bed, the various gadgets in your room can still interfere with your sleep with their silly bright status lights.
There are a few obvious offenders – especially TVs, game consoles, and routers – that like to flash lights as data enters and exits your network. There is even your own computer. The power button on the desktop might light up. Your laptop keyboard might be on. Some kind of glow may appear when the laptop is plugged into a power outlet. Your gaming keyboard and mouse might be lit up. Your desktop monitor’s power light is on. Everything shines.
This is an annoying problem at best and sleep-killing at worst, but you can fix it. Here are some tips to reduce technology-induced light pollution in your bedroom:
Check your device settings
Some devices allow you to control the strength of their indicator lights (or turn them off completely). Examine your device’s settings and look for a menu called “brightness” or “lighting”. You can also find the screen and ambient light controls in the Power Management or Energy settings, so check there as well.
It’s also possible that your device needs some kind of update – software or firmware – before you can turn off its lights, so check the manufacturer’s website to see if your device’s latest update is possible.
Keep your devices out of sight
The next step is to simply hide your device from view before going to sleep. If it’s something small, like a battery, take the device out of the bedroom or put it in a drawer. If you cannot move it completely, try rotating the device so that the indicator light is not shining directly on you. Depending on how light-sensitive you are, this may be enough to make your evenings more comfortable.
Remember that some devices, like a wireless router , won’t work as well if you put them in a closet (or whatever) to hide them from view. Temperature problems can be a problem too; for example, if your network storage device is overheating, you should probably care more about airflow than brightness.
And I know no one ever wants to do this, but if possible, try to get into the habit of unplugging your devices before bed. This does not apply to items that need to be charged, such as your smartphone, but you may not need to turn on the bright grid at night unless your wired devices require an internet connection in the early morning hours, for example. (You can even buy remote-controlled extension cords to make this process easier.)
Block the LEDs with electrical tape
If you want to completely block out the annoying light of your devices, making an LED blocking sticker is as easy as cutting a piece of duct tape. A little bit of duct tape in the right place should completely suppress unwanted light.
For most circular indicator lights, a hole punch will produce a perfect sticker. For rectangular lights or multi-light strips, use a box cutter or X-Acto knife to cut the shape you want. As CNET points out, pressing the tape against a sheet of waxed paper before gluing it to the device will make it easier to remove.
Things get a little more complicated if you want to dim but not turn off the LED. We’ve seen several ways to do this with our own hands: cover the device with a stocking or transparent sock, and even stick on several layers of transparent tape until the light reaches the ideal level of brightness. However, if you want the best of both worlds, you’d be better off buying a translucent sticker.
Purchase LED dimming stickers.
The most popular LED dimming sticker called LightDims comes in three different types: those that absorb a little light (15-30 percent), the most light (80-90 percent), and dimming stickers that, like electrical tape, are supposed to prevent light from entering. …
LightDim costs range from $ 6 to $ 20, depending on how many stickers you need and what kind of packaging you want. It’s more expensive than a roll of duct tape, but LightDims gives you the best of both worlds: a little light so you can still see the state of your device, but not so much light that it gets annoying (or interferes with sleep).
In the interests of fairness, there are several other alternatives you can check out as well. We’ve seen a lot of support for LightDims on the web, but it never hurts to be a smart shopper.