There’s no denying that the use of computers in all areas of our lives has increased tenfold (or even higher) in the last two decades. The benefits and comfort computers bring to our daily and professional lives did not come cheap, as there’s always a price to pay.
Various researches have shown that almost all people who usually spend more than eight hours a day on the computer are very likely to suffer from various symptoms of RSI (short for Repetitive Strain Injury).
The main affected parts of the body are the eyes, neck, shoulders, forearms, thumbs, upper back, hands, wrists, fingers, and arms. Thankfully, there are multiple preventive measures we can take in order to prevent RSI related to prolonged computer usage.
This is where Safe Eyes comes into play. It’s a free and open-source Linux app that helps you prevent and reduce the effects of RSI.
Safe Eyes is a Free and Open Source tool for Linux users to reduce and prevent repetitive strain injury (RSI). To be more precise, Safe Eyes is a break reminder app.
At this point, it would be easy to underestimate what Safe Eyes can do for your health, but trust us on this one, it’s very well-thought-out and quite extensive.
We mentioned before that Safe Eyes is a break reminder. The “break” screen asks you to do various sets of exercises in order to reduce the effects of RSI.
Safe Eyes achieves this via smart notifications (including audible alerts), a really nice set of built-in exercises and plans, and the ability to fully customize the schedule for said breaks.
There are other advantages as well. Safe Eyes can be installed on a wide range of Linux-based systems including Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc. Installation instructions can be found both on the app’s official website and the GitHub repository.
The app also comes with multi-display support, and can even lock your computer while taking long breaks to prevent unauthorized access. Another noteworthy advantage of Safe Eyes is its extensibility.
You can pretty much customize everything using plugin-ins, including the way the app looks (via CSS). Last but not least, the app also offers APIs for developers. What this means is that the app can be controlled externally using the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) API and various command-line parameters.
Breaking unhealthy habits is not exactly an easy thing to achieve. Even though Safe Eyes is nothing more than a break reminder, it’s one of those apps that can really guide you in the right direction when it comes to improving your life, even if that means taking breaks more often.
What’s really awesome about Safe Eyes is that it offers users a lot of freedom when it comes to how it can be used, as a short visit to the app’s Settings section would definitely convince you of this fact.
