[FACT OR FAKE #80] Does Staring At Screens Really Ruin Your Eyesight?
While eyeballing your digital screens all day can do a number on your well-being — it can cause headaches, give you dry eye, and leave you daydreaming about what it's like to actually go outside, can it actually put you at risk for more serious vision problems? Your weekly FACT OR FAKE columnist digs through the Internet to find how much of it is fact or fake.
By Sadho Ram — 16 Nov 2014, 02:16 PM — Updated about 10 years ago
It's quite safe to assume, in this digitised world, that most of us spend most of our time during the day staring at a digital screen - be it laptop, PC, or TV, and our smartphones and tablets lull us to sleep at night. Today gadgets have kind of become a necessity.
What does all that digital screen time do to your eyes?
Dr. Joshua Dunaief, an ophthalmologist and macular degeneration researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, told TIME that any eye issues you’re experiencing stem from two root issues. Either your eyes are dried out, or they've become too fatigued to see properly.
“There are tiny muscles inside your eyeball that change the shape of your eye’s lens in order to bring whatever you’re seeing into focus,” Dunaief explains. After hours of sitting in front of your computer screen, those muscles can grow tired from focusing on a single fixed point.
time.com
“In some cases, those muscles become so fatigued that your eyes can no longer focus,” Dunaief adds. He says research has also shown that when reading or working online, people tend to blink less. That can lead to dry eyes, tearing, or a burning sensation, he says.
time.com
While we're not powerless to combat the above stated issues, these issues are typically short-lived, as they go away within a few hours when we take our eyes off digital screens. But are there any serious, long-term dangers associated with digital screens?
Probably not, says Martin A. Mainster, PhD, MD, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. And he’s in a position to know. “It’s safe to say that I’ve been looking at a computer screen for a good part of the day every day for the last 30 years,” he admits. Still, prolonged computer work certainly isn’t comfortable, especially if you don’t have your equipment set up properly, Dr. Mainster says.
everydayhealth.com
FAKE: Staring at screens doesn't really damage your eyesight
Using the computer doesn't hurt your eyes. After a while, however, you can start to lose focus due to fatigue or eyestrain, which can lead to brow pain and headaches. You may also blink less while working at a computer, making your eyes dry and irritated, says Anne Sumers, MD, an ophthalmologist in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and a clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).
everydayhealth.com
This myth—or should we say half-myth—likely started with some faulty GE televisions in the 1960s, according to DNews. Staring at a screen for too long can cause eyestrain, but it won't cause permanent damage to your eyes.
lifehacker.com
However, it doesn't mean that you continue to sit too close to your monitor. Listen to what our elders have been telling us since ages. So for every 20 minutes you spend staring at the computer, you should spend 20 seconds looking at objects 20 feet away.
