20-20-20 Screen Break Template

About this timer

The 20-20-20 rule: every twenty minutes of screen time, look at something twenty feet away for twenty seconds. It is the standard optometric advice for digital eye strain, and the reason it needs a timer is that nobody remembers to do it — the whole problem is that focused work makes you lose track of time. Six cycles covers a two-hour stretch of work.

Best for

• Office and remote work
• Long editing, coding or reading sessions
• Anyone getting tired eyes, headaches or blurred vision by mid-afternoon

What to do on the break

• Look out of a window at the furthest thing you can see
• Blink deliberately — focused screen work roughly halves your blink rate, which is what dries eyes out
• Stand up if you can; the twenty seconds is also a decent excuse to move
• Roll your shoulders back and drop them
• Do not check your phone. It is the same focal distance as the screen you just left

Scaling it

Gentler

Every thirty minutes rather than twenty if the interruption breaks your concentration too often.

Stricter

Add a five-minute standing break every hour on top of the twenty-second look-aways.