Is screen flickering harmful to my MBP's health? If let it be, will it gradually screw up my display and create irreversal defects?

Question

So my 2019 macbook pro screen's started flickering a few times a day since a few weeks ago.

I'm aware it may be fixed through Reseting NVRAM or Reseting The System Magement Controller (SMC) as suggested in this post: 2019 MacBook Pro 15 inch: Screen flicker randomly.

But I don't feel like fixing it.

I don't really mind the flickering a few times a day since it actually gives a cyberpunk feel to the whole macintosh experience.

I love cyberpunk.

I'm just wondering if this whole act of flicking is harmful to my machine's health from a machine maintenance perspective?

i.e. If I don't fix it and let the screen continue to have such random flickering and just let it be, will it slowly screw up my display? And create some form of irreversal defects?

And there will be no going back?

How should a MBP's display flickering be interpreted at first principle?

Answer 1

No - the LCD panel can turn on and off many, many times so if it’s that you should enjoy the show as long as you can stand it.

No - the wiring can short, but I’ve never heard of that causing any damage up or down stream. Anything is possible, but it’s highly unlikely.

No - the GPU fails in the same way as the other parts. Entertaining, then annoying, then it goes and you pay for a repair.

A video of the glitching might help isolate which of these you have, but the overall diagnosis is the same. Roll with it, don’t fret - every day you don’t pay for a repair, the better value you got and you can always pay to repair or save to replace it later.

Answer 2

Never mind your MBP's health: a flickering screen can have a negative effect on YOUR health.

Spending regular time in front of a poor display can cause headaches, eye strain, fatigue, dizziness, nausea -- to say nothing of bringing on seizures in epileptics.

A 'cool cyberpunk effect' is not worth your health.

Your MBP is a relatively new machine: you may still be able to get a free repair at an Apple Shop for defective hardware. It's much better to get a small problem repaired for free, or at little cost, than a much bigger problem later on, which will cost you much more.