Unpopular Opinion

Your eyes adjust to light based on an average. If your whole room is dark and the only light is from your device, then your eyes are adjusted to the overall darkness, leaving the device screen outside of that range which causes the discomfor. Darkmode might prevent that from happening by lowering the amount of light from your device and matching it to your environment.

Dark mode on an OLED screen means less light is entering your eyes. The contrast between the text and the background might be way harsher in dark mode though. When in light mode, the text might not actually be black, it might be a dark grey or something. But in darkmode the contrast is white light against no light.

maybe a middle ground dark mode that has dark grey background and light grey text would be good for you

Wholeheartedly agree.

We’ve been reading dark text on white paper for centuries, and now- people are saying that anyone that enjoys “day mode” is crazy.

So much so, that I once posted a screenshot of an issue I was having on my screen- and everyone jumped my ass because I was not using night mode.

My question was never answered.

First of all, it probably depends on the type of screen. Secondly, it might be because 9f the brightness settings. Thirdly, the most used apps by the person. Some apps are better in light mode and vice versa. Fourthly, it depends on the way the person's eyes are sensitive. For some, like me, white text bleeds into dark backgrounds and that makes it harder to read, but the dark mode feel and comfort make it much less straining in the end. Another reason could be the perceived sense of elegance which is just subjective with no explanation.