OT - Monitor question

I figure someone on this forum will have the answer. If not, can you point
me to a more appropriate forum.

My 19-inch CRT monitor is on it's last legs and I plan to replace it with a
24-inch flat panel. I currently use a resolution of 1024 x 768. The native
resolution on the flat panel is 1920 x 1080. This is going to make for
smaller icons, images and text. I have very poor eyesight (20/300) and don't
know if I can stand anything smaller than what I have. So, three questions:

1. Can a flatscreen LCD monitor's native resolution be lowered to get larger
items?
2. If yes, does this in any way damage the monitor?
3. If 1) yes and 2) no, does lowering the resolution cause a decrease in
legibility or image quality?

Thanks very much for any help.
Jay Kneese