adsii1970

A public service announcement about animated GIFs and photosensitivity:

Until today, I have been relatively secretive about a topic near and dear to my heart. While I have, in the past, made an effort not to be offensive or demanding in the past, I have also neglected my responsibilities to speak out for the few forum users, and myself, who have a health condition which is triggered or made worse by animated GIFs that rapidly change colors or brightness.

Photosensitivity, in its purest definition, is the noun form of an adjective, photosensitive. And until the mid 1980s, most of the people who were regarded as photosensitive were those who had a physical reaction to sunlight and ultraviolet light.¹ But by the mid-1990s, and thanks to the continued development of personal computers, there was a new condition where photosensitivity took on another form - it caused a physical and/or mental reaction when certain light types and stimuli are present.² We now know more about photosensitive epilepsy now than we did in the mid-twentieth century. While the exact numbers are unknown it is expected that nearly 5% of those who have epilepsy may have seizures triggered by visual stimuli.

I do not have epilepsy but I do have chronic hemiplegic migraines. In recent years, I have developed a photosensitive component to my migraines. While I do not have epilepsy nor any of the markers which aid in the diagnosis of epilepsy, the photosensitive component is very real.³ While I do not experience an externally visible seizure, nevertheless, the very nature of a hemiplegic migraine will trigger a reaction that is best described as a combination between a seizure and a Transient ischemic attack (TIA).⁴ In my own experiences, I have had seven such episodes since January 2021. Of the seven, six have been triggered by GIFs shared on forums, such as this forum and Simtropolis.

I have been hesitant to share any of this publicly and did allow a few other members of the moderation team in on this problem I have. This is the first time I have shared on any of the forums where I am a member of that I have this problem. Yes, there are times the GIFs do not bother me; there are times the GIFs will trigger an episode and usually it is when I have already had a migraine that has lasted longer than three days and on a scale of 1 through ten, the pain level has been about a five or higher.

The GIFs that are the worst offenders all have a singular feature - they flash from light to dark colors at an extremely fast rate of speed.  So, with that said, while I do not wish for the moderation team to become the GIF-gestapo, I do ask that for the sake of those of us who do experience photosensitivity, a little caution and self-reflection be applied when sharing GIFs. By all means, continue to share whatever image desired, but maybe tone down the animated GIFs that change and are designed to emulate flashing lights.

References:

1. Pietro, MaryAnn De. 2018. “Photosensitivity: Definition & Patient Education.” Healthline. Healthline Media. March 30. https://www.healthline.com/health/photosensitivity.

2. “Photosensitive Epilepsy.” 2021. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. March 28. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosensitive_epilepsy.

3. “Migraine Aura and Photosensitive Epilepsy: What's the Link?” 2021. Atlas of Science. Accessed May 8. https://atlasofscience.org/migraine-aura-and-photosensitive-epilepsy-whats-the-link/.

4. “Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA).” 2020. Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. March 7. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/transient-ischemic-attack/symptoms-causes/syc-20355679.