text: why it's ok to sit close to pc monitor but not near tv screen?   not sitting too close to the televison screen was something people were worried about in the 1950s and '60s, but not so much recently. there *are* some worries about "video display terminals" (monitors), actually.  "virtually no one believes that under ordinary circumstances television watching poses any special danger. (well, physically, anyway.) prior to 1968 or so some sets emitted excessive x-rays, but that problem has now been eliminated. more recently concern has arisen about computer video display terminals (vdts), which typically are viewed at much closer range than televisions; research is inconclusive so far but continuing. to be on the safe side some eye doctors say you shouldn't let your kids get closer than five feet to the tv screen, the room shouldn't be pitch black, etc. but the intention is to prevent eye fatigue, not eye damage."