This doesn’t quite rise to the level of a Red Meat Friday item—at least I don’t think it does—but some folks do take the light-mode/dark-mode debate very seriously. Over at Gizmodo, Victoria Song reignites the debate with an article telling us to Stop Using Dark Mode.
Song’s article differs from the others that I’ve written about in that she doesn’t rely on scientific opinion for her conclusions, just her own observations. She loves dark mode and was overjoyed when iOS started supporting it systemwide. She switched all her apps to dark mode and felt that it was much easier on her eyes. But then she noticed that she was having difficulty reading her Slack channels. She found it hard to distinguish between channels and found herself having to reread some DMs.
The problems with Slack went away when she switched it back to light mode. Then she tried switching everything back to light mode and found that it was easier to read and retain her emails and other content. She also found that she didn’t miss the dark mode aesthetic as much as she thought she would.
Long before the light-mode/dark-mode squabble became a thing, I was firmly in the light mode camp. I could never understand why anyone would prefer a dismal dark theme. It wasn’t until later that I learned that I was holding a minority opinion. Of course, as I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter. It a matter of choice and there’s no correct answer. Except mine.