SCREEN TIME:

How Does It Affect Your Eye Health?

Modern problems require modern solutions. With the rise of technology, we have radically transformed how we consume information. From going to work or school to casually scrolling on our phones, we consistently and constantly stare at screens. Such a dramatic change in how we consume media over the last two decades begs the question: how does this affect our eye health?

Computer vision syndrome, or digital eyestrain, is a top contender for adverse effects of viewing too many screens. While eliminating screen time, or significantly reducing it, is an obvious answer to your headaches, dry eyes and blurry vision, it isn’t always a plausible solution. After all, many jobs absolutely require that the work be done on a computer.

What Causes Computer Vision Syndrom?

The American Optometric Association (AOA) credits digital eyestrain with three tasks that your eyes must perform: ocular motility, accommodation and vergence.

Ocular motility allows your eyes to coordinate movements from one position to another, accommodation allows your eyes to focus at different distances, and vergence allows your eyes to focus on objects at different distances. Think about reading a book compared to scrolling through a digital copy of a magazine. A page in a book is a single, flat surface without a lit screen, creating little distraction for your eyes from the passage you’re reading. You can’t zoom in, you can’t switch tabs, and the fonts don’t change.

How To Relieve Digital Eyestrain

Since switching to exclusively using paperback materials, which still causes some level of strain on our eye health, isn’t an option, finding ways to adapt may be our best bet. Consider some of these solutions:

• 20:20:20 Rule

The AOA recommends that every 20 minutes, take a 20 second break from looking at your screen, and instead look at something 20 feet away. Then, for every two hours that you look at a screen while incorporating the 20:20:20 rule, you should take a 15 minute break. This will help your eyes rest and refocus instead of forcing them to squint and strain for prolonged periods of time.

• Adjust the Lighting

Instead of sitting in a dark room with a brightly lit screen, or a brightly lit room with a dimly lit screen, try to match the room’s lighting with the brightness of your screen. This may help alleviate some of the strain of your eyes adjusting to different brightness levels around and in front of you. If you don’t have complete control over the brightness levels where you work, asking your optometrist to prescribe specific glasses for your situation may be worth a thought.

While some consider blue light glasses to help keep their circadian rhythm in check, they may not be as useful in this situation as tinted, light sensitivity glasses. Other glasses can be constructed with anti-glare coatings and different focus levels. Having glasses specifically designed for your screen time situation can help relax your eyes and alleviate the strain of working a 9-to-5 shift that requires significant amounts of screen time.

• Limit Your Luxury Screen Time

As easy as it may be to scroll on your phone before bed, play a video game, or even just watch TV, there is some merit to the idea of powering down your devices at least an hour before sleep. Eye health and digital eyestrain is all about finding ways to relax your eyes and refocus your vision. If you designate at least one hour of your evening to settling in and avoiding screens, your eyes will have time to relax, rehydrate and refocus.

• Blinking and Eye Drops

Staring at a screen can cause some people to blink more infrequently than they would in a normal, day-to-day activity. Remembering to blink more frequently will help your eyes stay lubricated and prevent dry eyes. Especially if you wear contacts, using eye drops to help make up for less blinking can also keep your eyes hydrated and focused.

Eye health is not something to take lightly, and something like digital eyestrain can cause significant discomfort at work and at home. Because our world is a constant whirlwind of sensory overload, our eyes are left to adjust accordingly. Something as simple as being aware of the strain that we put on our eyes and implementing an easy change may eliminate just one more headache.