Short answer: reading glasses magnify. Computer glasses do not. If text on your screen looks blurry, you need magnification and we cannot help you. If your screen is sharp but your eyes feel tired and glared out by the afternoon, that is what computer glasses are for.
They get sold as the same thing constantly. They are not, and buying the wrong one is the most common mistake we see.
It Comes Down to Distance
Every pair of glasses is built for a distance. That is the whole idea, and once you see it the rest is simple.
| Type | Built for | Roughly | Corrects vision? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading glasses | A book in your hands | 35 to 40 cm | Yes, magnifies |
| Computer glasses | A monitor on a desk | 50 to 70 cm | No, in our range |
| Distance glasses | Across a room, driving | Far | Yes, prescription correction |
A monitor sits in the middle. That middle zone is called intermediate distance, and it is the gap almost nobody plans for. Most people own something for reading, or something for driving, and nothing built for the thing they stare at eight hours a day.
The Canadian Association of Optometrists puts the recommended screen position at more than an arm's length away, over 50 cm, and about 20 degrees below eye level. That is a long way past where a reading glass is focused.
What Are Reading Glasses?
Reading glasses are magnifiers. The lens has a strength, written as +1.00, +1.50, +2.00 and so on, and it makes close-up things bigger and sharper.
Most people start needing them somewhere in their forties. The lens inside your eye gets less flexible with age, so focusing on something close stops being automatic. The clinical name is presbyopia, and the Canadian Association of Optometrists puts the usual onset between 40 and 45. It happens to nearly everyone eventually and it is not a disease.
You can buy them off a pharmacy shelf without a prescription, which is why so many people assume all non prescription glasses are the same thing. They are not. The magnification is the entire point of a reading glass, and it is exactly the part our lenses do not have.
What Are Computer Glasses?
Computer glasses are built for screen distance. In our range that means a clear lens that filters 85% to 90% of blue light and cuts glare, with no magnification and no vision correction at all.
You will also see them called blue light glasses or screen glasses. Same product, different names.
The reason they exist is that a working day at a monitor is hard on your eyes in a specific way: fixed focus distance, hours at a time, under office lighting, at a backlit panel. Filtering the light helps some people with comfort and glare. It does nothing for focus, because there is nothing in the lens that changes focus.
If you want the full range, our computer glasses collection is built around desk work. There is more on what the filtering actually does, and does not do, in our post on eye strain relief.
Can I Use Reading Glasses for the Computer?
You can, and a lot of people do, but it usually makes things worse rather than better. Here is why.
A reading glass is focused for about 35 cm. Your monitor is at about 60 cm. Wearing the reading glass at the screen means the focus lands short of where you are actually looking, so the screen goes slightly soft.
Then two things happen without you noticing. You lean in to meet the focal point, which wrecks your neck and shoulders by mid afternoon. And your eyes keep hunting for a sharp edge that is not there, which is genuinely tiring.
So the honest version: if you already own readers and you only use a screen for half an hour a day, you will be fine. If you are at a monitor for a full working day, a reading glass at screen distance is the wrong tool and you will feel it.
The one case where it works: ask an optometrist for a lower strength than your reading prescription, set for screen distance. That is a real thing and it has a name.
Office Lenses and Occupational Lenses
This is the option almost nobody explains, and it is the right answer for a lot of people over forty.
Office lenses, sometimes called occupational lenses or computer progressives, are prescription lenses set for near and intermediate distance instead of near and far. In practice that means one pair that keeps both your keyboard and your monitor sharp, without the neck tilt a normal progressive forces on you at a desk.
What they are not good for is looking across the room. They are a desk lens, not an everyday lens, which is why most people who get them keep a second pair for the rest of life.
You need an optometrist for these. We do not sell them and cannot make them. If you are over forty, wear readers, and spend your day at a monitor, this is the conversation to have at your next eye exam. It will cost more than a pair from us and it will do more for you.
So Which One Do You Need?
Work down this list and stop at the first one that matches.
| If this is you | Get this |
|---|---|
| Screen text is blurry, or you hold your phone further away than you used to | An eye exam. This is a focus problem, not a light problem |
| Over 40, wear readers, at a desk all day | Ask about office lenses at your next exam |
| You already wear prescription glasses full time | Ask your optometrist to add a blue light filter to your next lenses |
| Vision is fine, but your eyes feel fried and glared out by 6pm | Computer glasses. This is what they are for |
| Vision is fine, but evening screens make it hard to settle before bed | Computer glasses. This is the strongest case for them |
| You wear contacts and want a filter over the top | Computer glasses. They go straight over with no conflict |
If you landed on computer glasses, browse by fit in men's blue light glasses, women's blue light glasses or kids' blue light glasses, or see everything we sell.
What About Blue Light Reading Glasses?
These exist. They are a reading glass with a blue light filter added, so you get the magnification and the filter in one lens.
If you need magnification and want a filter, they are a sensible buy. Pharmacies and optical shops carry them, and so do the big online retailers.
We do not sell them. Every lens on our site is non prescription with zero magnification, and we would rather say that plainly than have you order from us and find the text no sharper than before. Our guide to non prescription blue light glasses in Canada covers where that line sits.
Common Questions
Are computer glasses the same as reading glasses?
No. Reading glasses magnify and are set for about 35 cm. Computer glasses in our range have no magnification and are meant for screen distance, around 50 to 70 cm. The only thing they share is that both can be bought without a prescription.
Can I wear computer glasses for reading a book?
You can, but there is no point. Paper does not emit blue light, and our lenses will not make small print any clearer. If print is hard to read, that is a magnification question.
What is intermediate distance?
The zone between reading distance and across-the-room distance, roughly 50 to 70 cm. It is where your monitor sits, and it is the distance most eyewear is not built for.
Do computer glasses have a prescription in them?
Ours do not. Some sellers offer prescription computer glasses, made by an optometrist for your eyes at screen distance. Those are a different product and cost considerably more. Our post on what blue light glasses cost breaks down that gap.
I bought readers for the computer and my eyes still hurt. Why?
Most likely the focal distance is wrong for your screen, so you are leaning in and hunting for focus. Try the free fixes first: screen brightness matched to the room, monitor an arm's length away, and a break every twenty minutes. We compared that directly against buying glasses in this post.
How do I know if I need an eye exam or just a filter?
Simple test. If your screen is sharp and your eyes are tired, a filter might help. If your screen is blurry, no filter in the world fixes that and you need an exam.
What if I order and it turns out I needed something else?
Send them back. You have 25 days, and shipping to you was free either way. See our refund policy, or email us first and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right shop for what you are describing.
About the author
Jesse Robert has spent five years working in blue light eyewear and started BlueLightGlasses.ca in 2022. He is not an optometrist, and these guides are not medical advice.
He writes them himself, and he will tell you when blue light glasses are not the answer.
Questions about fit or filtering? Email us and a person will reply.
