Office workers on TikTok say there's a generational divide about how to light an office.
Atlas Financial/Getty Images
At Atlas Financial Solutions, there's a generational divide that's highlighted by the flip of a switch."I like the bright light," Amanda DiGiacomo, the owner of the Bakersfield, California, firm (and avowed millennial), told Business Insider. "I just feel like I can see the computer screen better. My eyes can focus on it more, and it feels like I'm not about to go to sleep."The office's younger employees don't agree."It makes me feel pressured, and maybe anxious," Reyna Arredondo, a payroll specialist and Gen Z-er, said.In-office debates over the "big light" — often the bright, cool-colored fluorescent strips jammed into commercial ceiling tiles — have become a recurring topic on TikTok. There, overhead-haters have proposed solutions, including light covers, window blinds, and even bringing their own lamps to work.Online, it's been cast as the latest Gen Z-versus-the-world office debate.Business Insider spoke to 11 office workers at six companies and two interior designers about their experiences with bright overhead office lighting.For some employees, fluorescent office lighting helps them feel alert and focused and makes text on a computer screen easier to see. For others, the bright overhead lights can contribute to glare, eye strain, headaches, or distraction — or simply make the office an unpleasant place to stay from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.That disagreement poses a familiar problem for employers. Like debates about office temperature, lighting is both highly personal and difficult to individualize in a shared room. Giving one worker the bright environment they need to focus may leave the person at the next desk squinting or reaching for the light switch.
