The point though is that while one might "love it" and dark mode might feel like "laser into the eyes" to them, it can also mean reduced eyesight and increased vision problems mid/long term - not "subjectively", but objectively.
To make an analogy, excercize also feels like an exhausting experience for many people, and they "love" and prefer lounging on a couch, but long term they'd live more and be healthier if they did it more of the former and less of the latter.
> it can also mean reduced eyesight and increased vision problems mid/long term
[Citation needed]
The article mentions several studies, including short-term discomfort from digital eye strain associated with excessive screen use (regardless of color theme) and improved reading accuracy with light themes, but I don't see anything associating dark themes with long-term vision issues.
I love it so much that I've been using it since my Atari 600 XL and Commodore 64 days.
At times it's been complicated: I remember the early IntelliJ IDEs had no dark-mode but you could configure one yourself (and it was lots of work). Or Windows: the rare time when I worked on Windows I couldn't get a dark mode to work but I remember I could "dim" the laser white background into a light grey and Word would show a slightly grey background.
Linux / Emacs: zero issue configuring these with dark modes of course.
As an anecdote at 51 y/o I need, at long last, to go see an ophthalmologist to measure my now failing eyes.
But spending most of my life from 11 y/o to 51 y/o in front of computer screen, I'd say all these decades without glasses was a good run.
I do design work, in addition to building stuff. I need to see colors "as-is" (to the degree that's ever a thing) fairly often. 5/100 brightness wouldn't be great, and even syntax-highlighting gets murky at low brightness, I'm guessing?
Is there anything visible at that point. There always seems to be someone advocating impractical solutions simply because they believe these solutions work for them personally.
My monitor's absolute lowest brightness is ideal for me in diffuse daylight (normal working conditions) and tolerable (still not too bright) in the evening. It is annoying that they don't go even lower, but it works for me. My phone's brightness slider goes all the way down to a comfortable level for night, at the very lowest setting.
Or you could just use a table lamp, or any other background lighting. Instead of that you will be complaining about pain in your eyes, band aiding it with dark mode and go blind before 40 years old.
Using light mode apps, especially in the evening, is like a laser into my eyes, subjectively.