Is it normal to see this static when you close your eyes?

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.

If you really wanna blow your mind and prove it
You can also see them by holding a (not too bright) flashlight against your cheekbone and pointing the beam at your eye. The light needs to come from right below and you might need to move it around a little until you get the angle just right.
For that edit you now have to breath manually!
- Jokes on you, I've never stopped. AND Good news everyone, you read this in Farnsworth's voice!
that's what that is? cool.
Oooo, cool!

The static yes, the purple no.

That shade of purple seems a bit off, but you might see colours depending on the light going through your eyelids

I see a little “DVD” logo zipping around that changes colour when it bounces off the periphery of my vision.

I saw it hit the corner perfectly once!
This, but there's paddles on either end that hit the logo back and forth.
And I never seem to win

This is just the result of neurons firing and chemical reactions taking place, and it's normal. Personally, for me it depends on my state of mind when I try to sleep. When agitated, I see noise like in your picture. When calm, I see flat, colorful shapes with soft edges that float around and change shape more or less rapidly (kind of like a lava lamp).

Ohhh yeahhhh the lava lamp like ones are cool. Sometimes vague impressions of cyan and red, sometimes propagating in waves. I'm so glad other people are describing it!
- I also find them really helpful for falling asleep. Sometimes when I feel stressed and see mostly noise, I'll try to spot the color shapes and focus on them. It's kind of meditative and helps me fall asleep faster.
Mine can vary wildly depending on what kind and the quantity of psychoactive substance I've taken.
Vision floaties? Me too.

Probably just your tuner that's unplugged. Feel around for any loose wires.

Or "upgrade" to digital, the downside to that is that you either have vision or no vision at all if reception is kinda weak.

I think it's called visual snow, and it's normal.

Seconding this. It's not incredibly common but it's not incredibly uncommon. Research shows that most people who have it don't notice it until it's pointed out. Drugs and stress tend to exacerbate the effect as well.
Visual snow is when you see it with eyes open afaik. But yea, still not terribly abnormal on its own. Visual snow syndrome is a thing though, but it's more than just seeing an abnormal amount of visual snow (the normal amount seems to be when looking at unicolored surfaces and in dim light).
Just don't snowcrash

Purple, green, pinks and oranges (that's the blood in my eyelids I think). If I rub my eyes, the pixellated screensavers get wild, which I think means you're not supposed to do that.

Better than seeing weird letters and 80 style colored geometric shape sliding around.

I only get patterns (usually floral-ish) if I press my eyes a little. You guys are getting them for free?!
Here's an artist's impression of what that might look like.

Does anyone else see 'the ring' when you rub your eyes and then just look at the canvas of your eyelids?

Yes. Its feedback of the pressure upon your eye. Your brain needs to interpret but nerves will be wonky when eyeball is pushed.
- the void circle calls to me with its radiance
  i will cherish its gaze as my body liquifies
  and my mind authors an analgesic static

If there’s no light, you should see eigengrau.

Bro is a CRT

I always assumed everyone saw it. I'm not special after all.

Though mine is gray, definitely not purple.

That gray is unique to individual. And if course has its German term. Similar to the other links floating about in this thread.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigengrau
- Ha, of course it does! Germans have a word for everything.
i had it intensely when i also developed other neurological issues like peripheral neuropaty, and palinopsia(afterimage)although symptom was temporary. now its more of a background if i concentrate hard enough i see snow. i had also had pretty bad RLS for several weeks.

Uhhh everyone is saying this is normal and I don't have it...

It happens to me at night because not only does it have to be quite dark, I audio need to be dork dark adapted. Your pupil is part of your dark adaption and widens in a mater of seconds. However, your receptors also get doped with rhodopsin, which takes up to 20 minutes to full replenish (blue/uv light bleachers rhodopsin). It's like being able to lower the F-stop on a camera like normal, but taking 20 minutes to raise the ISO
it's too bright in the room i'm in currently, but i get it at night
Same. Had to check, but yeah, no purple static. Just nothingness.
I have it, but there's no purple. Just a sea of red and green dots.

What you're seeing is the inner workings of the holographic universe we inhabit. Your brain interprets the signal as static.

/Obviously I'm not serious....

But you're right.
Only the hologram is produced by the nervous system. Not God's super computer or whatever.
- I mean, I guess that's true in a peculirar sort of way in which nothing really exists outside of our perception of it.
  What I mean by that is that whatever we see, hear, taste, etc... is merely neurons firing in our brain, processing a signal that it receives. So if we're looking at a tree for example; that tree is just light/energy waves vibrating on a specific frequency. It's only when it hits our optic nerve and travels to our brain that it's translating into something that we call a "tree".
  So when the eyes are closed, the random interference pattern could indeed be interpreted as you say. Goog catch. Kind of makes you wonder.

From m'eye experience. Yes.

everyone says this is normal but i've never seen it. am i cooked

Don't worry, friend, it'll all be over soon. You won't feel a thing.

Yes. I "see" it too but can unsee it quite easily. I think it's more apparent in unlit environments.

i see it more when I look up at the bright blue sky or a bright white wall
- Hm okay. I'll check again in six months when Belgium isn't a depressing film Noir scene straight from Max Payne 1 & 2.

for the topic of discussion it might be worthwhile to also look into https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia

1/10 people have it and have no idea it's not normal, my sister and mother too

I see patterns and colors. Almost like a screensaver.

I can make static if I squeeze my eyes very tightly, sometimes spots. No one i asked when I was little had the same results. Haven't thought about it in a long time.

probably caused by some small amount of light getting through your eyelids , or random noise in your nerves

That's what they tell you to think. Hmmmm.
- could also be cosmic background radiation exciting the rods and cones inside your eyes

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.

I do, and have had the same question.

Yes. And if you want to see something really cool, take a look at a clear blue sky. You'll notice tiny dots of lighter color moving quickly following constant short trajectories. These are your own leucocytes moving through the capilars right in front of your retina. The brain compensates the darker color of the predominant red blood cells, so you can't see the capilars, but the white blood cells are translucent, so they appear as lighter dots!

Mine varies from the static to a fine lattice grid that is constantly changing.

a small proportion of people have this, i have it mildly as well. my opthamologist at the time said it wasnt common and he only knew a teen that had it. its mostly because of the part of yuor brain thats active. its a wierd neurological thing. i suspect mines was due to diphenhydramine at the time, plus i had undaignosed spinal issue which would cause neurological/neuropathy in my limbs. i think the DPH made it more pronounced, as bringing it from the background.

its something having do with your lingual gyrus that is hyperactive(correlation)

@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

This is what the night sky starts to look like when I try to look at stars
The indistinguishability of dark events from photon responses supports this explanation because rhodopsin is at the input of the transduction chain. On the other hand, processes such as the spontaneous release of neurotransmitters cannot be completely ruled out.
So it's like when a camera doesn't have enough light to properly take a photo, producing a lot of grain. Like when you have a high ISO when taking a photo/video in a dark room, it looks very grainy. I guess the eye is still adjusting its "exposure" if you see some of this graininess in the dark (or when you close your eyes?)
- the brain is always trying to find pattern in incomplete data. one of the explanations i have seen is that when our ancestors were sitting around the fire, those who saw the tiger or something lurking in the dark had better chance to pass their genes than those who didn't.
  it is why we are seeing patterns in clouds and random geometrical shapes on walls and stuff like that.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia

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

They also mention it on the wiki page but I could see fractals and different patterns when I closed my eyes while on shrooms.
Oh shit that's why I can like make shapes and shit when I'm like in deep relaxation
- Ever try one of those float tanks? They’re really good for that.

You have too much gain.

But yeah it's normal.

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.

I was recently reading about this because I discovered there's a name for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_cinema
- crazy!
  What I see is very close to this:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL3kVtc-4vY

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)

Welcome to the simulation

I wish it was still 1999 :(
- Can I offer you a blue pill in this trying time?

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

What if you can at-will toggle the perception?
I have it. I'm used to it. It's not as if I can do something about it.
I have this.... I just thought this was normal vision. I hate my eyes 😔
- So did we all, friend. You're one of the tv static people now. Welcome
I have this in my right eye without break but also no migraines

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.

That's closest to mine, honestly. More of a beige and black hounds tooth, though.

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.

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.

I do.

This gif is very calming to me.

Just needs some brown noise, bliss!

Sure is for me, especially in the dark

But if I focus I can see it everywhere

it became more pronounced around the time i developed peripheral neuropathy for a while, and RLS like 10 years ago. then its still there but its less severe than it was before.