I will use emoticons till the day I die :D

But Artsekey, what is an ergonomic chair?

They're chairs designed and tested to support the user during prolonged use. This means they minimize strain on certain areas of the body and can significantly minimize the risk of injury.

Oh, so like a gamer chair?

A lot of "gamer" brand chairs aren't actually ergonomic-- buyer beware. They look cool, but they charge a premium and don't do anything for your spine.

I just looked it up, and most of them are over $1000. No thanks!

I know, I know. They're expensive. But:

'm so serious when I say that if you are a professional working at your computer for long hours, this is not optional. It's a matter of your health and wellbeing. Source: my physical therapist after I tore a muscle in my back (agonizing!!! put me ON THE FLOOR!!!!) because I sat in the wrong chair too long.

2. They don't have to be that expensive!

If you have a Best Buy or (even better) an Office Depot in your area, pop in. They have a ton of ergonomic chairs on the floor and each has a tag that lists it's rating. I got my dinky chair for (that's rated for 12 hours of use!!!) for about $170, which would be about $220 today. That is a steal for a chair that has this rating.

You can also keep an eye out for them at garage sales + hang around universities during move-out.

If they don't have a tag, what should I look for?

Five points of articulation:

elbow height

chair height

back depth

lumbar support

backrest angle.

Mesh backing or high-quality cushion.

To be fair, my chair (that I love) does not have many of those points of articulation (which is probably why it was cheaper). However, I had access to the rating report and it has proved to be a great purchase.

You seem weirdly passionate about this...?

Discovered last year I couldn’t look at my 2015 MacBook Air without it triggering nausea and migraines, and figured the screen died. Have been getting by on my phone, but concluded I really need a laptop again.

Saved up, realised I could afford a brand new MacBook Neo, and got one.

-And I couldn’t spend more than five minutes looking at the screen without massive eye strain, nausea, vertigo, and if I pushed it, I-need-to-lie-down-in-a-dark-room-for-hours migraines.

Looking up MacBook and Eyestrain explained what is going on. The liquid retina displays that Apple currently has uses Pulse Width Modulation or PWM. In order to give the screens a deeper depth of colour and contrast, PWM flickers between several hundred to thousand times a second.

And there is currently no way to turn it off. There are settings and apps to reduce it, but there is no way to stop the screen from flickering. Checked Apple forums, called Apple Support, and the time I could look at the screen kept shrinking. Got the laptop Tuesday, returned it Friday, today is Sunday and I’m still dealing with a vertigo migraine.

For MacBooks, it seems to vary on the computer model and the software it uses. In retrospect, the issue with my MacBook Air started after a major software update.

And it’s not just an Apple thing. Current Windows and Android screens do the same thing. There’s even a Reddit for people who are sensitive to PWM flickers to help find computers and screens that won’t trigger eyestrain and headaches.

So, yeah. This week has been a learning experience. But for those who are prone to headaches and migraines, this may be something to be aware of, cause I was not.