> The front of the monitor is 24" from my nose

Isn't that a bit too close? Can you see all of it at once, and is there anything but it in your field of view? I'm asking because i had a 60cm (24'' is 61cm) desk with a 24'' screen and i found that too close and too straining on my eyes.

It's as close as it needs to be for the size fonts and resolution I want to run it at, and still be able to read comfortably with my 50 year-old eyes. Yes, it's a bit on the close side so I do have to pan my head a bit. As I mentioned, I do push it back and bring it forward throughout the day, but I just measured where I'd left it at after coding yesterday and it was at 24" away.

I don't really have any issues with eye strain though.

I did need to get dedicated glasses that I use when using the monitor or when I'm on my laptop. I'm a bit near-sighted, even after Lasik a decade ago, and now I'm also dealing with presbyopia the last few years. I've worn glasses all my life, but they never bothered me at all till I started dealing with the presbyopia and needing task-specific glasses. :-(

I tried progressive glasses (modern versions of bifocals) but found them extremely annoying with their fishbowl effect and only providing enough magnification at the bottom and gave up on them after two weeks. So I now have my regular glasses that are adjusted for normal activities and I just take them off or read below them for near work. My near-sightedness here is providing me some temporary respite from the presbyopia. But at arm's length distances, it's uncomfortable to read text through them because my eyes can't focus that close with them on, yet if I take them off it's just a bit too blurry.

So I basically have my work glasses that make things from ~ 18" - 36" comfortable for viewing.

Presbyopia really sucks and it's the only thing so far about aging that's a constant irritation in my day. :-(

p.s. typing this on an iPad 12.9" that's about 16" from my face, w/o wearing my glasses. Further away and it's too blurry and I'd need my middle-distance glasses. With my regular glasses, there's no distance at which I can read it.

> I tried progressive glasses (modern versions of bifocals) but found them extremely annoying with their fishbowl effect

Lord you aren't kidding about that - I tried these after a doctor recommended, and it was so jarring and disorienting I thought something had to be wrong. Apparently that's just how they are.

I thought I was the clumsiest person in the world until I stopped wearing mine. I was tripping on everything constantly.