I've been working from home on my computer for about 2 years now and honestly I barely get any sun exposure. My mom tells me I should still wear sunscreen every day, but it seems like an unnecessary expense to me. Does it really make a difference if I'm not in direct sunlight?
UVA rays pass through windows and clouds, so even when you're inside you're getting constant exposure that damages your skin over time, especially if you spend hours in front of a screen near a window. the good news is you don't need to spend a fortune - a cheap sunscreen with SPF 30 or 50 in a large size lasts you months and costs about the same as a coffee a week, so the "unnecessary expense" is pretty minimal compared to dealing with wrinkles or spots later. your mom's right about this, even if it's annoying to apply; it's almost like brushing your teeth, it becomes a quick routine pretty fast.
Don't fall into the temptation of skipping sunscreen just because you're indoors all day. UV radiation isn't the only problem; blue light from your screen plus windows that let infrared rays through keep damaging your skin without you noticing, and by the time you realize it a few years later you've got spots, rough texture, and premature aging that's hard to reverse. I went years without putting anything on because I was at home and now at 40 I'm stuck in expensive treatments because the skin on my neck and décolletage deteriorated quite a bit; a sunscreen at 50 pesos a month would've been ridiculously cheaper than what I'm spending now fixing the damage.
Your window is your invisible enemy: UVA does penetrate glass, but people way overblown the whole blue light from screens thing (that's more marketing than science). What actually matters is whether you have south-facing windows or if you're sitting right in front of them for hours, because that's where you actually rack up exposure. If you work in a room with no direct sunlight, honestly daily sunscreen is more of a super long-term preventive expense than an urgent need - but your mom isn't wrong either: a regular SPF 30 moisturizer doesn't cost a fortune and it doesn't hurt to use it if you're gonna moisturize your face anyway. You'd actually notice the real difference in 20 or 30 years, not in 2 months.
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