These proper decisions are called basic strategy and have been arrived at by computer simulations of millions of hands. But fallacious logic tells you that splitting this hand creates two losers. Seems every time you split those eights you get, at best, two 10s. Then the dealer always has a nine or 10 in the hole, and bang, the jingling you hear is not Marley's forged chains but all your money falling into the dealer's tray. He starts deviating from basic strategy because FEAR sets in.
FEAR camouflages the logic of computer studies.
But according to basic strategy, the proper move is to split 8s if the game you're playing doesn't allow surrender. Because you will lose more money in the long run if you hit instead of splitting. A seven dollar difference for every hundred dollars wagered. Win more money not necessarily more hands. Dear Mark, I've been around computers since 1978 and some folks even call me a computer genius.