How Your Cell Phone Is Destroying Your Eyes

Your texting habit isn't doing your peepers any favors.

 

Between your work computer, e-reader, TV, and smart phone, how much screen time do you rack up every day? If it’s as little as two hours, you’re setting yourself up for digital eyestrain: That’s the achy, tired feeling in your eyes that occurs after a stretch of screen viewing, leading to redness, tension, and even shoulder and head pain. The Vision Council, a nonprofit group that represents the optical industry, just released its 2015 Digital Eye Strain report, which found that 93 percent of us are at risk for it. You know how everything’s a blur when you finally do look up from the screen—or how bloodshot your peepers get after lots of time staring at your laptop or phone? Exactly.
“When we look at a screen, we blink less often than if we’re looking around a room or reading a book, and that makes our eyes dry and increases strain,” says optometrist Cristina Schnider, O.D., senior director of professional communications for Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. “The other problem is, it’s hard for the eye to focus on the screen because the screen is sloped.” It doesn’t help that the small print and pixilated images on tablets and phones can be ridiculously tiny, leaving you squinting. And the blue light emitted from screens may have a detrimental effect on eye health, as well, according to the report.

So how can you save your sight—without giving up your electronics? Take regular screen breaks. “Every 10 or 20 minutes, get in the habit of looking up from the screen and finding a distant object to focus on, which gets you back to a normal blinking pattern and restores moisture,” says Schnider. The Vision Council report calls it the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look away from the screen for 20 seconds at something 20 feet away. It also helps to go old-school and do at least some of your reading on paper, which our eyes find it easier to focus on, she says. Adjust your computer so the screen is an arm’s length away from your eyes, and decrease glare, which can exacerbate strain, by using an anti-glare screen (if possible). Changing the background screen from blinding white to gray can also help, according to the report. And if you wear contacts, ask your optometrist about new types of “wettable” lenses designed to help keep your eyes lubricated when you spend a ton of time in front of a screen, suggests Schnider.