⚠️ DO NOT USE FLASHING IMAGES OR FLASHING EMOJI.

[feditips@social.growyourown.services]

️ DO NOT USE FLASHING IMAGES OR FLASHING EMOJI. Flashing lights can cause seizures and physical danger to people with photosensitive epilepsy. There's more info about this in relation to Mastodon and the wider Fediverse at:

️ https://fedi.tips/dont-use-flashing-images-or-emoji

There's more info on the condition itself at:

️ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosensitive_epilepsy

This is why so many TV series and films contain warnings at the start if they feature flashing images or flashing lighting.

#FediTips #Safety

[maddiem4@raphus.social]

@FediTips Yup. And Fedi has content warnings as a feature, so if you do have some legitimate reason to post flashing content, there's no excuse not to CW it.

If that feels like extra work, or something that might reduce the reach of your posts, maybe consider that a gentle pressure nudging you away from less-accessible content.

[frieke72@mastodon.social]

@FediTips and it hurts people who are sensitive to light too Flickering stuff is also not very nice

[robertjackson58585858@masto.ai]

@FediTips

Am grateful for this.

Fortunately I do not suffer seizures however I have an intense dislike of such visual effects.

It seems to me that advertisers (on YouTube commonly, but also in cinemas) try to get as close as possible without actually falling foul of the rules as they try to be clever or impactful selling us stuff. Borderline brainwashing by over stimulation.

I find placing a hand across the screen works wonders.

[aprazeth@mstdn.social]

@FediTips

@stux as much as I love the cool flashing emoji - I would ask if we can remove all the flashing ones we have on the instance?

I know I can also not use them myself anymore, but anyone on the instance opening the emoji picker would still be shown these.

I'd like everyone to be safe in doing so

Disclaimer; I have used some of these myself, and in the recent past as well. Sorry to anyone affected

[stux@mstdn.social]

@Aprazeth @FediTips Yes!

I am not adding those on purpose indeed but i think a mod of us does, so ill talk to them

[aprazeth@mstdn.social]

@stux @FediTips

Thank you!

[integerpoet@sfba.social]

@FediTips This feels like a bug report, which is to say: Why is anybody animating images in posts by default?

[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.