@Stacyasks@lemmy.cafe @nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

Yes. It's called "Eigengrau" and it happens due to the adaptation of the eye amidst the darkness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigengrau

how did you take this photo? Small camera through your ear?

This is a normal closed eye hallucination level 1 on this Wikipedia page

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination

I see pulsing waves of color, even in pitch black rooms. When I was little they were bright as fireworks, now, depending on the night they're either just vaguely waves of purple, grey, and blue or sometimes electric blue and white.

Welcome to the simulation

I'm glad to see most people replying yes, I was like "wait, is it not?". The only time I don't see noise is when I look at flat colors on a screen and I'm not a fan.

Yeah, though mine doesn't flicker as fast - it kinda moves in slow waves.

I see brown and tan herringbone with paisley patterns blooming through it.

Yes, and if you GENTLY press on your eyelids you can make other colors happen.

Also if you stare at a clear sky, NOT AT THE SUN, or at a bluish wall, you may see little swirly things, it's the white blood cells in your retinas swimming around.

(Blue field entoptic phenomenon - Wikipedia https://share.google/MveakONY2KB3QXUUh)

Yes, but its not purple, its just like as if your soul was drifting through the universe and you see tiny dot-sized stars from afar.

Sometimes I couldn't sleep and the lights are off and there is a tiny bit of ambient light outside, and I just open my eyes and stare at the ceiling and also notice a sort of static like that, but with a brighter background light.

This gif is very calming to me.

My wife and I have never experienced this. 🤷

Very interesting though.

I do.

If you see this when your eyes are open then it may be visual snow.

Visual snow syndrome - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow_syndrome

It is hard to know exactly what we see because our brain processes it so much and then we have to put it into words and we could easily be describing different experiences the same way or same experiences differently.

I would guess any light receptor produces noise whether that is a few stray protons or just thermal chemical/electrical processes. I would think for most people the brain is receiving noise very much like this but how they experience it depends on how it is processed. Unless there is some after image from recently staring at something bright, when my eyes are shut my brain gives me an impression of nothing which is almost certainly not what my retina is detecting.

Yes, it's random firings of light receptors from the absolute ocean of potential stimulators for such sensitive cells and sensitive neurons that connect them to your brain.

Your brain does a profoundly involved job at every moment editing your visual input into a coherent, moving picture, but your brain edits out a LOT of interference and noise every moment.

If you really wanna blow your mind and prove it, make a pinhole in a card and in a dark room and look towards a light source. If you wiggle the pinhole light beam across your retina you will suddenly see all the blood vessels that feed your retina. Evolution decided it would put them on the front for some reason, but your brain normally makes it literally disappear for you. When you wiggle the shadows of the vessels, your brain forgets how to edit it and they appear like a mass of floater-spaghetti.

Edit: you can suddenly see your nose. You're welcome.

The static yes, the purple no.