With the increased use of smartphones in our daily lives, many have begun to ask, "Can you get eye damage from using the cell phone? "Although the impact of mobile screens on eyes is still being investigated, there are some already well-established health risks. Learn whether or not you are at risk of cell phone usage eye injury, and what you can do to protect your vision.
The average person looks at his or her smartphone 150 or more times a day. All that staring from frequent use of the telephone, computer use, and TV-watching can all lead to eye strain, an eye health issue that is often referred to as computer vision syndrome when found in this context.
It is predicted that 2 out of every 5 Indians will experience eye strain from excessive use of the telephone. Syndrome of computer vision can cause blurred vision, dry eyes, sore eyes and headaches. Here are the key reasons why phone use eye strain can cause these symptoms:
The average person looks at his or her smartphone 150 or more times a day. All that staring from frequent use of the telephone, computer use, and TV-watching can all lead to eye strain, an eye health issue that is often referred to as computer vision syndrome when found in this context.
It is predicted that 2 out of every 5 Indians will experience eye strain from excessive use of the telephone. Syndrome of computer vision can cause blurred vision, dry eyes, sore eyes and headaches. Here are the key reasons why phone use eye strain can cause these symptoms:
- Blinking Less Often: Blinking helps redistribute moisture to the eyes, preventing them from becoming dry and also serves as a natural protection against prolonged exposure to external conditions such as dust and sunlight. You should be blinking about 15 times a minute. When you stare at your smartphone, that number goes down by half, giving your eyes much less time to recover.
- Squinting: You might not mind reading smaller text on a smartphone screen, but surely your eyes will. On-screen text and video squinting overworks the muscles around the head, arms, and shoulders and is a significant cause of eyestrength and blurred vision.
- Excessive Glare: Our eyes are not designed to look directly at the sun for long periods of time, which is why eye strain can be caused by the glare from your cell phone screen. Such unpleasant situations are only compounded by using your phone in the dark to search your emails or social media.
Children Using Mobile Devices: Can Eye Problems Cause?
With young kids increasingly playing with mobile devices like smartphones and tablets for hours on end, this could also become a problem for them.
Overuse of mobile devices raises risk of myopia (short-sightedness),
This is particularly worrying for children in Singapore, since the country already has one of the world's highest incidences of childhood myopia. In addition, the earlier a child develops short-sightedness, the higher the later life risk of serious myopia.
In addition to myopia, there are also less common eye disorders which can occur after a prolonged period of close work. Can involve convergence or accommodative insufficiency, which impairs the ability of the eyes to converge (turn inward towards each other) or to focus well on close items. This can cause symptoms such as eye fatigue, and even double vision at times.
Hence, parents should take note of symptoms and behaviours such as:
- Frequent rubbing of the eyes
- Excessive blinking
- Tearing
- Tilting of the head or squinting when reading or watching TV
- Headaches from eye strain
- Complaining of eye tiredness or double vision
In addition, moderate to high myopia may cause "lazy eye," a condition also known as amblyopia. It deteriorates the vision of the child while the eye has no structural problem. Amblyopia occurs when one or both eyes transmit blurred images to the brain during early childhood. If during the time of visual growth the brain does not receive clear images, it will then learn to see only blurred.
Fortunately, if the disorder is diagnosed early-preferably before the age of six-amblyopia is absolutely treatable.
"If amblyopia is detected late, even though spectacles are recommended, the child's vision may not improve or may even be permanently impaired,"
How to avoid eye fatigue using mobile devices ?
As a parent, the best or most practical approach might not be to bar your child from using mobile devices. After all, sooner or later your child will get exposed to these apps.
- Moderate near-work, for example playtime on mobile devices, to around 30 minutes per session
- Ensure your child has regular eye rest periods while using these tools.
- Ensure that activities near vision are carried out at a reasonable distance appliance kept at least 30 cm away
- Encourage your child to take part in outdoor activities too.