Please read this entire message

maybe you mean

That is exactly what it is.... It's not normal???

Everyone's retinas actually produce noisy pictures, especially in dim or very bright light. However, depending on how your attention focuses, you might notice the noise more or less at different times; or more or less than other people.

This is a thing and I have it and apparently most people don't. I'm 42 and i had no idea.

TIL I have visual snow. I suspected that it wasnt normal but couldn't find the right words to explain it. This site is really useful, thanks

Huh. Didn’t realize this is a thing. I remember as a kid telling my mom that if I really paid attention, I could see the air moving lol. As an adult I realized that was obviously not correct, but I assumed that everyone’s eyes did this.

I've always likened it to having pixelated vision of a higher quality. Almost like you can barely make out the pixels but can never get close enough to see the individual ones.

i only see them when i look up the sky

I think I have this, but in color. It’s weird though, I don’t really notice it until it’s brought up or I randomly remember it, so I guess it’s not too bothersome. I still see it when I close my eyes, too.

I'm 41 and I only learned that Visual Snow isn't the norm about four years ago. Kept asking optometrists about it since I was a kid and they had no idea what I was talking about.

I always called it "life pixels" when I was younger

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I have this except it's different. It's black, and they start in a small circle, traveling inwards towards the very center of my vision before disappearing. I only notice it when looking at the sky, really. Is that normal?

This is my reality and I didn’t even know it.

ha. this moment right now is when I realized not everyone had this.

I only see like this at certain times.

I thought OP might've ment

hi I have that sometimes and its weird tbh , like a weirder perception of reality

Holy crap I have this.

Damn I have this too

Trillions of black dots, or is your vision seen as a seemingly infinite amount of miniscule grain, almost like a colorful static creating everything you see? The latter, to my knowledge, is how a minority of us see the world. I wish I knew more about it to be of more assistance.

Black miniscule grain

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I am glad you asked this because I was about to. I sometimes have this in the dark, but not always. Not really sure why?

Nope not everyone. Only some of us

I didn’t until I was reading this high and now I DEFINITELY DO

I don't have visual snow, light or dark. The only thing I get in the dark or when I close my eyes are green afterimages of what I recently saw if it's brighter.

I was just hiking in a cave yesterday and when we turned off the flashlights it was pitch black darkness for me. Like looking into someone's pupils

nope

Visual snow? I have it. Do they look more noticeable in the dark? Or against dark backgrounds?

Uh, not an explanation but that’s not a thing most people have afaik.

Seconded, no idea what you mean about black dots, sounds cursed

OP are you referring to the little dots you seem to see in the blackness when you close your eyes?

I‘ve had this my whole life and always thought it was normal. Just mentioned it to my partner and he looked at me like I was crazy haha. I wonder what else I think is normal but is actually weird…

Apparently not everyone has an inner monologue/stream of consciousness. They can think with images or something? I don't know. But they don't have to listen to their dumb brain ramble all damn day.

Do you mean the tons of tiny colored spots that appear when you press on your closed eyelids? Those are phosphenes if that is what you are referring to.

No, when my eyes are open.

Probably comes down to essentially electrical noise in the retina. No visual input is going to be perfectly encoded by the retina, hence noise

The visual representation from the link in the top comment is the most accurate representation of what I typically see on a daily basis, except it's more colorful and has more of a "oil layer on top of water" look to it. Thanks to WebMD I assigned myself to having a brain tumor until now lol.

Cracks me up that everyone says almost no one has it, but that they do. Like it's an exclusive club that almost everyone is apart of.

I asked my pediatrician when I was little, he said they are little bits of dust or particles. When you move your eye quickly, can you catch up to them?

They are packets of between 5 and ten photons intercepted by your rods and cones and converted into electrical pulses sent to your brain where they are then used to build up your own personal version of the universe. They are easiest to recognize very early in the still-dark hours of the morning when just opening dark adapted eyes. I can see them too!

It’s named Flywheels. It’s not so common but sometimes happens. Is better to see an ophthalmologist to see the origin of this symptoms.

I see circles with small dots floating around in my periphery. Not as much as when I was younger though.

What about larger circles that like lightly flash or focus in an out? Best I can think to describe it is like when a fight scene comes up in a game and the scene disapates in circles. Like if there were mainly transparent large circles as a filter ontop of what you see

I only remember having this as a kid, like this post reminded me of it, is that weird?

Mine are red and blue. A clear white surface to me isn't clear and white. Its a wash with red and blue.