Respite for sore eyes
In a world where people are spending increasingly more time looking at screens, it’s wise to press pause and take a break
ILLUSTRATIONS: ROSIE HUNTER
Screens have become a regular feature of most people’s lives – whether for work, play, personal research (or all three), a device is the go-to option. And being able to put together a presentation, watch the latest blockbuster or book a holiday at your convenience clearly has advantages. But there’s one aspect in the digital age that’s sometimes overlooked – the consequences of all this screen time on eyesight.
In January 2021, UK-based eye health charity Fight for Sight, which aims to prevent sight loss through pioneering research, reported that during the first lockdown of the pandemic, 49 per cent of respondents to a YouGov poll said that their screen time had increased in that period, and 38 per cent believed their eyesight had deteriorated as a result. And while lockdowns might be an exceptional occurrence, there’s plenty of evidence that screen time in general can cause various eye irritations.