Too Much Screen Time Harms Children's Eyes
More and more children are becoming addicted to their cell phones, tablets, and pretty much anything with a screen. The problem is, this may be very bad for their eyes.
"Dry eye" is often thought to be a condition that only affects elderly people. But now, with the popularity of video games and cell phones, it is becoming more common among children and teens who spend a lot of time in front of a screen. The condition can cause permanent eye damage.
Professor James Wolffsohn is an eye doctor at Aston University in Britain. He explains that healthy eyes are always covered by a thin layer of tears.
This layer is there all the time, not just when a person cries. And without it you probably wouldn’t see at all. That’s because, without tears, your eyes would dry up and would either get scratched or get an infection.
Wolffsohn explains that when we spend too much time looking at a computer screen, we tend to blink less. And when we do blink, we don't blink fully. This is a problem because normal blinking spreads tears across the whole of our eyes, stopping them from drying out.
Because the condition is becoming more common, Wolffsohn and his team have made a smartphone app that can tell a person if they have dry eye. The app asks users some simple questions and tests how long they can stare at a screen without blinking.
Doctors say even if you don’t have the app, you can protect your eyes by simply remembering to blink when you’re in front of a screen. And you should remind your kids to do the same.
