Why do things look darker with sunglasses?

Answer: Tinted lenses soak up some of the light

Polarization removes the brightness from light — Wrong. Polarization reduces glare by blocking certain light waves, but the overall darkening comes from the tinted lenses absorbing light.

Your eyes adapt to the lower light level — Wrong. Your eyes do adapt to less light, but the main reason objects look darker is that the tinted lenses absorb some of the light before it reaches your eyes.

Tinted lenses soak up some of the light ✓ — Correct! Sunglasses have tinted lenses that absorb some of the light passing through, so less light reaches your eyes and everything looks darker. The darkness depends on how dark the tint is.