[deepspace]

> I'm squinting at it throughout

Same here. I have anecdotally noted that many people, like myself, who were around in the days of actual green screen terminals and later green monochrome monitors are far less likely to prefer dark mode than younger people.

For me, the advent of color screens that made black-on-white text possible was a huge improvement in terms of readability and eye strain reduction, and I cannot imagine going back to the old ways.

[SL61]

As a younger person who strongly prefers black text on white backgrounds, I talked to some of my friends who use dark mode and discovered that they almost exclusively use their screens in dark rooms. Scrolling through their phone in bed with the lights off, for example. And younger PC gamers typically leave their room light off when they're on their computer.

The constant "light mode hurts my eyes!" never made sense to me until I tried using my computer in a completely dark room. So I think the trend over the past decade isn't really dark mode itself, it's more people using screens in dark rooms.

[tetha]

I am a data point towards this. I use dark color themes in my living room, and light-ish color themes on the balcony.

[salawat]

Was around in the tail end of the glory days of monochrome green/amber terminal. Still love me some dark mode. I'll admit though I've never understood light gray on black when other options stand out better.

[h2odragon]

Amber was better than green.

And as someone else mentioned, dark rooms may be part of it too. I find light backgrounds less obnoxious in brighter light, but i avoid brighter lights by preference.