User guide

PC Moderator ™ Installation and User Guide 13

Display Dim

If the time reaches the point where the display is dimmed (if enabled), the display will dim

and remain dimmed for that user until any new login the next the morning. The colors are

not dimmed equally. Blue is dimmed approximately 90% while green and red are dimmed

approximately 50%. The intended purpose of dimming the display is to reduce the effects

of delayed sleep cycles caused by late night computer use. While the primary goal is to

reduce blue light, the other colors are also dimmed to help keep a more balanced color on

the display yet not allow the user to simply turn up the brighness. Recent research from

Japan (Higuchi, Motohashi, Yang, Ahara & Kaneko, 2003) found that youth playing

computer games at night with a bright video display had lower saliva levels of melatonin

and did not report being as tired as those that played with the display dimmed. Melatonin

is the natural substance produced by the pineal gland that helps to regulate the day/night

sleep cycles in mammals. An increase in this substance naturally occurs in the evening in

response to lower blue light levels and causes us to feel sleepy. It has even been suggested

that there exists significant developmental and environmental hazards presented by blue

light at night-time (Pauly, 2004).

Parent (9) Operation

Parent (9) operation is the same as that for users 1-8 except there are no time limits,

dimmed display or control/status options except logging out and running the Tutorial. If

you would like to monitor your own computer use, or use the display dim features, setup

one of the users 1-8 for yourself. The only options for Parent users are to log out and to run

the Tutorial. It is suggested that you run the Tutorial from the parent user to familiarize

users with the operation of the PC Moderator. Although you can run the Tutorial from the

Setup Menu, this is not recommended if you intend to leave a child alone with the

computer.