(Image source from: Smartphones can make you blind?})
A good many of us look at our phone the minute we wake up, and it's possibly the last thing we look at every night before snoozing. Not just that, most of us also spend good many hours gazing at the phone screen — texting, playing games, watching videos, handling emails, reading ebooks and what not.
But have you ever noticed, after gazing at your phone display for long, how your eyes feel blurry, or you feel disoriented, when looking up? It's interesting to note how our body's chief navigational system (read eyes) fails to efficiently reorient itself after being forced to focus on a tiny, handheld screen for long.
“Human eyes are designed to see seamlessly at both near and far distances. Yet the educational, occupational, and now social demands of modern society have significantly diminished our ability to see "the forest for the trees." In fact, by constantly poring over our PDAs, keeping our eyes in an "over-focused," cramped position, we have unwittingly brought about a major increase in visual deterioration.”
An U.K. based optometrist David Allamby opines that since the advent of smartphones around 1997, there has been a "35 per cent increase in the number of people with advancing myopia." Myopia is the official term for nearsightedness, although Allamby refers to it as 'screen sightedness'. Normally, by the time one is 21years old, the affects of myopia stabilizes, but according to Mr. Allamby, "excessive screen watching at close proximity keeps the genes that control myopia activated."
The Daily Mail states: “Information from the research study has indicated that when reading books or newspapers, we keep them at a distance of about 40cm away from us. On the other hand, smartphones and tablets are kept just 18cm away from the face. This is the most striking piece of data given that the size of text in a book or newspaper is no different than the size of text on a phone.”
Mr. Allamby says that people need to begin limiting their use of devices and "consider the age at which they give their children a smartphone." He expects that "40 to 50 per cent of 30-year-olds could have myopia by 2033," all from our increased reliance on smartphones and tablets.
However, this doesn't mean you shun these smart devices. The idea is to be smart in its usage. Use it moderately and keep it further away from your face when operating. This could save you you vision.
AW: Suchorita Dutta
