⚠️ DO NOT USE FLASHING IMAGES OR FLASHING EMOJI.
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@FediTips This feels like a bug report, which is to say: Why is anybody animating images in posts by default?
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?
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️ 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-emojiThere's more info on the condition itself at:
️ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosensitive_epilepsyThis is why so many TV series and films contain warnings at the start if they feature flashing images or flashing lighting.
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 epilepsy3 Hz
Slowest flash rate that could trigger a seizure for some people60 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)
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️ 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_epilepsyThis is why so many TV series and films contain warnings at the start if they feature flashing images or flashing lighting.
@FediTips Sorry if this is a dumb question, but does 'flashing' include any emoji that is animated?
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@FediTips Sorry if this is a dumb question, but does 'flashing' include any emoji that is animated?
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."
As far as I can tell this means it happens with specific kinds of animation/movement rather than all animation.
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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."
As far as I can tell this means it happens with specific kinds of animation/movement rather than all animation.
@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.
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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."
As far as I can tell this means it happens with specific kinds of animation/movement rather than all animation.
@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.
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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 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.
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@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.
@Testoceratops @FediTips Damn, that's horrible. So sorry you have to deal with that.
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@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.
That's a fair point
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@Testoceratops @FediTips Damn, that's horrible. So sorry you have to deal with that.
@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
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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 epilepsy3 Hz
Slowest flash rate that could trigger a seizure for some people60 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)
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.
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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 epilepsy3 Hz
Slowest flash rate that could trigger a seizure for some people60 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)
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.
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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 epilepsy3 Hz
Slowest flash rate that could trigger a seizure for some people60 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)
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!
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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."
As far as I can tell this means it happens with specific kinds of animation/movement rather than all animation.
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
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@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.
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.
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️ 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_epilepsyThis is why so many TV series and films contain warnings at the start if they feature flashing images or flashing lighting.
@FediTips@social.growyourown.services Let it be said the Netscape blink element aged badly
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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 @FediTips ? the sensitive range mentioned is *lower* than 60 Hz tho! or am I missing something
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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.
Yeah, that's got to be wrong... If it triggered seizures, _any_ shared office space would be a major safety hazard.
Although, on a 60hz CRT, pixel intensity fades between each refresh, causing a constant "flickering wave" across the screen. (Not entire screen at once though.)
While on 60hz LCD (and similar), the pixels keep the same intensity while waiting for the next update. So no fading in between.
So that reference to 60hz may be from older tech, maybe?
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️ 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_epilepsyThis is why so many TV series and films contain warnings at the start if they feature flashing images or flashing lighting.
@FediTips
>It matters because a lot of people may not be able to prevent autoplay
There ought to be a browser extension that does that. -
@FediTips
>It matters because a lot of people may not be able to prevent autoplay
There ought to be a browser extension that does that.@FediTips
In fact, Firefox probably has a setting in about:config to do that.
