⚠️ DO NOT USE FLASHING IMAGES OR FLASHING EMOJI.

[t_robinart@mastodon.art]

@FediTips
Dang! I loved to use that fox-brain-explode emoji but never thought about that. Thank you vor the heads up.

[adelinej@piaille.fr]

@FediTips Thank you so much for this! These emojis and images make me literally sick due to being #AuDHD and some senses issues. ( It is NOT a general statement, I am speaking for myself only).

[novet@infosec.exchange]

@FediTips I've been looking to write free and open source software for detecting photosensitive epilepsy triggers (according to standards, of which there are MANY) with a group of students. its mad how the only option small creators have to find triggers in their videos are closed and paid.

watch chris spargo's video on it, honestly it is kind of wild.

[superflippy@mastodon.xyz]

@FediTips I’ve unfollowed everyone who does this except for one person, and hers are pale enough they’re not too bad, but I still have to scroll them offscreen or cover them with my finger to read her posts. #accessibility

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@integerpoet

I get what you're saying, but the problem is it's not just people on here who see these animations. Someone might share a web link to a post, or someone might be looking at a post on someone else's device, or using an app that doesn't have an option to stop animations etc.

It's probably safer to just avoid these appearing without a warning?

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

p.s. Someone asked what kind of flashing is dangerous, the following might be useful.

According to https://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/seizure-triggers/photosensitive-epilepsy the frequencies are as follows:

10 to 25 Hz
Flash rate range that is most likely to cause a seizure in people with photosensitive epilepsy

3 Hz
Slowest flash rate that could trigger a seizure for some people

60 Hz
Fastest flash rate that could trigger a seizure for some people

(Hz or Hertz is how many times a second the light is flashing)

[buffyleigh@mas.to]

@FediTips Sorry if this is a dumb question, but does 'flashing' include any emoji that is animated?

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@buffyleigh

I am not an expert, but for example this epilepsy website describes it as:

"...caused by being exposed to flashing or flickering lights or high contrasting patterns."

"Some people are sensitive to geometric patterns with contrasts of light and dark such as stripes or bars."

https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/about-epilepsy/epileptic-seizures/seizure-triggers/photosensitive-epilepsy

As far as I can tell this means it happens with specific kinds of animation/movement rather than all animation.

[buffyleigh@mas.to]

@FediTips Thank you for sharing this! I frequently use animated emojis that might be fine but I'm not really sure, will be more thoughtful about using them.

[testoceratops@disabled.social]

@FediTips @buffyleigh One of the worst animated emoji for me is the one of a cat's head moving around quite fast, I believe? I think it has quick color changes too (flashy ones are the worst to me, but it depends on everyone), or maybe it's another one. "Glitch" aesthetic (don't know how to name it) is horrible for me, even when not animated

I have autoplay off for everything, but when I open in another tab and it isn't on my instance, it's sometimes animated. Which sometimes caused seizures.

[integerpoet@sfba.social]

@FediTips Yes, but what I really mean is: let’s do all of the above **including** building software which is safe by default. Nobody really **needs** animated GIFs. Defaulting to disabling them means most people won’t ever enable them. Safety is more important than dancing hamsters.

[buffyleigh@mas.to]

@Testoceratops @FediTips Damn, that's horrible. So sorry you have to deal with that.

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

@integerpoet

That's a fair point

[testoceratops@disabled.social]

@buffyleigh @FediTips I'm lucky enough to be able to spend a week without seizures sometimes, which is great.

When it happens a lot, well at least that's how I felt, you kinda get used to it. It remains exhausting, physically too even if there are no injuries. But when I haven't had one in a week, it feels worse somehow. Don't know if it's just me, though. Thank you for caring

[zl2tod@mastodon.online]

@FediTips

Rise time is a factor too.

Thus Xenon strobes, camera flashes, and LEDs with the usual fast switching, are more troublesome than incandescent sources.

Car tail lights strobing with sharp risetimes at epileptic trigger frequencies are common.

Single flashes can precipitate seizures.

[argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org]

@FediTips

Note that 60Hz is also the refresh rate of most screens, so they aren't *capable* of displaying a flash that's too fast to trigger seizures.

[argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org]

@FediTips

I'm reminded of a GIF I once saw, from some people who were apparently *trying* to trigger photosensitive epilepsy in unsuspecting website viewers. For their own amusement, apparently. Jerks.

It was called “Epilepsi” (sic). Very rapid, very intense flashing. On that day, I found out that I'm not epileptic…the hard way!

[argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org]

@FediTips @buffyleigh

Wikipedia describes it as rapid changes in luminance. Equally rapid and dramatic changes in color, without a change in luminance, do not trigger seizures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosensitive_epilepsy

[argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org]

@Testoceratops

Yeah, I saw on Wikipedia just now that even static images can trigger seizures in some people. I knew that rapid changes in luminance over *time* can cause seizures, but I didn't know rapid changes over *space* can do it too!

And yeah, the glitch aesthetic is pretty much exactly that. High contrast, lots of visual noise, resembling the output of buggy graphics code. Parsing such an image is pretty hard on the brain, even if it doesn't seize.

@FediTips @buffyleigh

[stgiga@blahaj.zone]

@FediTips@social.growyourown.services Let it be said the Netscape blink element aged badly