Eye Health in the digital age : Effect of screen on your eyes
Let’s admit it. We all spend hours and hours of our time looking at screens every day. Some of us are working with screens, and some are just using screens to escape the boredom of everyday life. We work on our day job sitting in front of a computer for 7-8 hours, and later we curl up in front of a tv screen staring at our smartphones. Even at midnight, we find ourselves scrolling through our smartphones sleep-deprived. And the cycle continues. Our children highly depend on screens for their studies and entertainment. In a nutshell, we are a generation highly exposed to digital screens and the short-wavelength, high-energy blue light emitting from them.
The screens are consuming a large portion of our attention, and we are too busy to take a moment and address the detrimental effects screen time has on our body and brain. The digital age lifestyle is draining us in many ways, and it is high time to address this issue. In this article, let’s address the detrimental effects excess screen time have on our eyes.
Though the symptoms might not be alarming, they can affect our work life and make it difficult to get through the day. These issues go for screen-users of all kinds and not just computer users. The blue light emitting from various screens has the same effects on our eyes. But the blue light alone is not the problem. It is a combination of numerous other factors as well.
Factors causing digital eye strain
Short-term and long-term effects of excessive screen time on our eyes
The short-term effects of too much screen time on our eyes is called computer eye vision syndrome. Here are the common symptoms of this issue;
These symptoms immediately improve when we take a break from screen usage. With a few simple changes, you can keep these symptoms at bay. The chances of screens causing highly damaging eye problems are low but never zero. Get medical help if you have persisting symptoms affecting your work life and personal life.
Some studies suggest that the blue light emitting from the screens can damage retinal cells in the long term, causing eye diseases like macular degeneration. Sleep deprivation is another long-term effect of relying too much on screens. The blue light limits our body’s ability to create melanin, the element that helps us fall asleep. Lack of proper sleep damages our eyes and entire body in many ways. This constant sleep deprivation is one reason we have a large population of burnt-out youth. Without adequate rest and recovery, how will we achieve our optimum productivity? Our children are now on the same path, and it is our duty to show them a healthy way of managing screen time and their health.
Read our article on computer vision syndrome to find a few ways to manage screen time.
Also, check out this article to learn some eye exercises to keep your eyes healthy, especially in this digital era.
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