Purple, green, pinks and oranges (that's the blood in my eyelids I think). If I rub my eyes, the pixellated screensavers get wild, which I think means you're not supposed to do that.
this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
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It is hard to know exactly what we see because our brain processes it so much and then we have to put it into words and we could easily be describing different experiences the same way or same experiences differently.
I would guess any light receptor produces noise whether that is a few stray protons or just thermal chemical/electrical processes. I would think for most people the brain is receiving noise very much like this but how they experience it depends on how it is processed. Unless there is some after image from recently staring at something bright, when my eyes are shut my brain gives me an impression of nothing which is almost certainly not what my retina is detecting.
Yes, it's random firings of light receptors from the absolute ocean of potential stimulators for such sensitive cells and sensitive neurons that connect them to your brain.
Your brain does a profoundly involved job at every moment editing your visual input into a coherent, moving picture, but your brain edits out a LOT of interference and noise every moment.
If you really wanna blow your mind and prove it, make a pinhole in a card and in a dark room and look towards a light source. If you wiggle the pinhole light beam across your retina you will suddenly see all the blood vessels that feed your retina. Evolution decided it would put them on the front for some reason, but your brain normally makes it literally disappear for you. When you wiggle the shadows of the vessels, your brain forgets how to edit it and they appear like a mass of floater-spaghetti.
Edit: you can suddenly see your nose. You're welcome.
that's what that is? cool.
If you really wanna blow your mind and prove it
You can also see them by holding a (not too bright) flashlight against your cheekbone and pointing the beam at your eye. The light needs to come from right below and you might need to move it around a little until you get the angle just right.
Oooo, cool!
Uhhh everyone is saying this is normal and I don't have it...
it's too bright in the room i'm in currently, but i get it at night
Same. Had to check, but yeah, no purple static. Just nothingness.
I have it, but there's no purple. Just a sea of red and green dots.
What you're seeing is the inner workings of the holographic universe we inhabit. Your brain interprets the signal as static.
/Obviously I'm not serious....
From m'eye experience. Yes.
This is just the result of neurons firing and chemical reactions taking place, and it's normal. Personally, for me it depends on my state of mind when I try to sleep. When agitated, I see noise like in your picture. When calm, I see flat, colorful shapes with soft edges that float around and change shape more or less rapidly (kind of like a lava lamp).
Ohhh yeahhhh the lava lamp like ones are cool. Sometimes vague impressions of cyan and red, sometimes propagating in waves. I'm so glad other people are describing it!
I also find them really helpful for falling asleep. Sometimes when I feel stressed and see mostly noise, I'll try to spot the color shapes and focus on them. It's kind of meditative and helps me fall asleep faster.
Mine can vary wildly depending on what kind and the quantity of psychoactive substance I've taken.
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Probably just your tuner that's unplugged. Feel around for any loose wires.
for the topic of discussion it might be worthwhile to also look into https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
1/10 people have it and have no idea it's not normal, my sister and mother too
I see a little “DVD” logo zipping around that changes colour when it bounces off the periphery of my vision.
I saw it hit the corner perfectly once!
This, but there's paddles on either end that hit the logo back and forth.
And I never seem to win
I think it's called visual snow, and it's normal.
Just don't snowcrash
Seconding this. It's not incredibly common but it's not incredibly uncommon. Research shows that most people who have it don't notice it until it's pointed out. Drugs and stress tend to exacerbate the effect as well.
Visual snow is when you see it with eyes open afaik. But yea, still not terribly abnormal on its own. Visual snow syndrome is a thing though, but it's more than just seeing an abnormal amount of visual snow (the normal amount seems to be when looking at unicolored surfaces and in dim light).
Better than seeing weird letters and 80 style colored geometric shape sliding around.
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Bro is a CRT
@Stacyasks@lemmy.cafe @nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Yes. It's called "Eigengrau" and it happens due to the adaptation of the eye amidst the darkness.
The indistinguishability of dark events from photon responses supports this explanation because rhodopsin is at the input of the transduction chain. On the other hand, processes such as the spontaneous release of neurotransmitters cannot be completely ruled out.
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I do, and have had the same question.
Yes. And if you want to see something really cool, take a look at a clear blue sky. You'll notice tiny dots of lighter color moving quickly following constant short trajectories. These are your own leucocytes moving through the capilars right in front of your retina. The brain compensates the darker color of the predominant red blood cells, so you can't see the capilars, but the white blood cells are translucent, so they appear as lighter dots!
how did you take this photo? Small camera through your ear?
They just closed their eyes and then pressed in their ear and anus to take a screenshot.
Wow that's so much easier! I've always had to pee and fart at the same time
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You have too much gain.
But yeah it's normal.
Mine varies from the static to a fine lattice grid that is constantly changing.
This is a normal closed eye hallucination level 1 on this Wikipedia page
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I always assumed everyone saw it. I'm not special after all.
Though mine is gray, definitely not purple.
That gray is unique to individual. And if course has its German term. Similar to the other links floating about in this thread.
Ha, of course it does! Germans have a word for everything.
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I personally don’t see it as intensively
I see pulsing waves of color, even in pitch black rooms. When I was little they were bright as fireworks, now, depending on the night they're either just vaguely waves of purple, grey, and blue or sometimes electric blue and white.
I was recently reading about this because I discovered there's a name for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_cinema
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probably caused by some small amount of light getting through your eyelids , or random noise in your nerves
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Yes, and if you GENTLY press on your eyelids you can make other colors happen.
Also if you stare at a clear sky, NOT AT THE SUN, or at a bluish wall, you may see little swirly things, it's the white blood cells in your retinas swimming around.
(Blue field entoptic phenomenon - Wikipedia https://share.google/MveakONY2KB3QXUUh)
I see patterns and colors. Almost like a screensaver.
I can make static if I squeeze my eyes very tightly, sometimes spots. No one i asked when I was little had the same results. Haven't thought about it in a long time.
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