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I had a rather stupid large pair when I was in middle school. Never bothered wearing them to school though, for almost obvious reasons.
But now they've managed to more or less streamline them. How useful are they though? Is it worth picking up as a last ditch emergency set of glasses?
I had my progressive lenses specced out so the near and medium zones take up 3/4th of the area, and distance is only a top fringe. Think of them as a pair of reading glasses with an optional distance area at the top ๐ I did this because I realized - like you apparently - that I spend much more time at the computer and reading than looking at far stuff.
Those glasses are almost screwed onto my face 24/7. They work for me 95% of the time. But for the sake of extra comfort, I also have 2 pairs of dedicated glasses for computer/reading (single vision, i.e. cheap): one is always at work and the other at home. I put on the former if I know I'll be staring at a screen for more than 4 hours at a time, to reduce neck strain, and I almost never use the latter. But it's there if I need it. And I have a pair of distance-only glasses (again, single vision) that I never use because the progressives do the job just fine. But on occasion, to admire landscapes and/or do photography, I'll use them.
Progressives are tricky to get right. There's the corrections of course but also how you use them. A good optician should interview you at length to ensure the near and distance areas are distributed to help you rather than get in your way. It sounds like the one you had your progressives made at didn't do that.