Lifehack: wear an eye-patch to quickly adapt your vision to unsolicited dark-mode

Last time we discussed "how to prevent pesky pop-ups and ads by blocking part of your screen with a wooden spoon"1. Now it's time for another lifehack to help fight unsolicited dark-mode.

Preventing dark-mode has become one of the three hardest problems in computer science, (next to 'johnny cache invalidation', agreeing on the name of variables, and off-by-one errors).

In other galaxies, new species have come and perished. Entire civilizations prospered and collapsed again. But for firefox users change happened much slower, and they're still asking: "Y no dark mode?" on /r/firefox.

It took several decades to bring consistent dark-mode in Firefox, so that meanwhile many of us are too old to fully appreciate it, because staying awake past 8pm is simply not physically possible anyway.

Consistency, despite extensions like "DarkReader", was never 100% in firefox:

Every so often I found myself clicking a link at 3AM, when BOOM!?? my face is illuminated by the brightness of a thousands suns emanating from the screen, causing me to stir, awakening my spouse. The dog all confused by the sudden lack of snoring noises thinks, it's time for early walkies. 60 seconds later a toddler stands in the door demanding an explanation for the late-night ruckus, announcing "it was impossible to sleep in these conditions", and "they needed to pee".

Thanks Firefox.

This went on for a few years, bags under my eyes, all energy sucked out of me. Still installing Chrome wasn't an option. Because when you use every chance to tell people on HN/reddit how you successfully "de-googled" your online presence, and how much happier this as made you ... By then you've made a choice. And Chrome isn't part of that equation.

You no longer blame Firefox for inconsistency, for the same reason you don't blame your cat for suddenly puking, after not having stepped into fresh puke for a few weeks.

Apart from Firefox's dark mode which is implemented in software there is "natural dark mode", which is part of your wetware after you hit 40. Your eyes close automatically and it works 100% automatic, whether I want it or not. Except for a few pee-interruptions, is fully consistent unlike its software counterpart.

It means I can just use light-mode that has been default all along. But alas ...

Today (software) dark-mode has become so ubiquitous that I often get it without having asked for it. Worse, some pages do not respect my wish for light-mode.

?? Luckily I've found a non-technical solution, that was championed by pirates, so you can use it without any knowledge of computers.

?? Pirates when robbing villages wore an eye-patch to quickly adapt their sight to dark conditions in houses they entered at night.

?? With an eye-patch, a website being served in dark-mode only, your eye(s) adjust quickly. It no longer accidentally triggers the circadian clock, putting you to sleep because of a sudden grey text on dark background.

?? Wearing an eye-patch is also more sustainable than setting your beard on fire, which only briefly illuminates a darkly themed site.

1?? The eye-patch works great in combination with the wooden spoon. (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/20140604230824-7082046-interesting-lifehacks-use-a-wooden-spoon-to-block-part-of-your-screen/) Use both techniques to stay sane.