I came across this article on Computerworld about how all of those different little lights we have on our gadgets and home electronics can be harmful to our health. Mike Elgan writes:

I wrote a column in this space four years ago about how incredibly annoying all these gadget status lights are and demanded that device makers get rid of them.

I didn’t expect manufacturers to respond. And in fact, the problem is getting worse. The number of gadgets we use keeps growing, and each device seems to have more and brighter lights.

Since I wrote that column, new research has emerged that reveals how incredibly bad all of those lights can be for our health.

It’s a good read. This is exactly why, like Mike suggests at the end of his article, I have little squares of black electrical tape over all of the LEDs on the electronics in our bedroom and elsewhere around the house. It’s bad enough the alarm clock can light up the room (I really need to get one with a dimmer setting), do I really need a light on the TV to let me know it’s off?

I really like how my Netgear MoCA adapters have a button you can push to turn off all of the bright blue lights. My TiVos let me turn off the front indicator lights as well (although the network jacks on the back still have blinking traffic/connection lights I have to cover). Every piece of electronics should have an option to turn those status indicators off, or not bother with them at all.