How smartphones affect our vision

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

What awaits those who spend all day looking at the screen.

Blurred vision

Different types of activities affect vision in their own way. Those who engage in winter fishing can develop snow blindness - a burn of the cornea with ultraviolet rays reflecting off the snow. Welders are injured by arc radiation. The ship watchers are hallucinating. Those who look at the screen often suffer from blurry vision.

For a while, we don't even notice that our vision is getting worse. If we are not seeing clearly enough, then we simply increase the brightness of the screen. Only this still does not help to protect eyesight.

The first sign of decreased vision: You start to squint while looking at your phone. Then bring it closer to your face, increase the font size on the screen. In the end, you give up and buy glasses. They will, of course, help you enjoy reading from your phone again without interference. But a vicious circle arises.

We rate our eyesight by how well we see letters on our phones. And we do not think that it is the phone that undermines our ability to see.

Temporary blindness

Several cases of temporary blindness from a smartphone have already been recorded. With her, the ability to see with one eye is lost for some time. This problem arises from reading lying on its side in the dark. At the same time, the eye with which you look at the screen adapts to light, and the one covered by the pillow adapts to darkness. After that, the eye, which has adapted to the light, “goes blind”. Fortunately, this only takes a few minutes.

Computer vision syndrome

All vision problems caused by long-term contemplation of the screen are referred to by the general term "computer visual syndrome". It usually includes symptoms such as blurred vision, dry and burning eyes, and headaches. The term itself is rather vague. The American Optometric Association ranks this syndrome as any discomfort people experience when they stare at a screen for a long time.

As a treatment, they suggest the so-called 20x20x20 exercise. Every 20 minutes, take a break of 20 seconds and look at something 20 feet (six meters) away from you. This exercise will help relax your eyes.

However, this syndrome includes more than stress from reading small print or fatigue from bright backlighting.

More broadly, it also includes the more general concept of blindness - the inability to notice objects in the real world, especially natural ones.

For example, few people now distinguish different types of trees. We just don't pay attention to them. And so with many other phenomena in the surrounding world. This, perhaps, is the main danger of smartphones.

Of course, you won't be able to completely abandon smartphones and other devices. But you can reduce their negative impact. For example, use special ones for sight. Don't forget to do. And more often, because the world around is beautiful in itself.