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Do your eyes feel dry, runny or tired after scrolling through your Facebook or Instagram feed, or maybe you get a headache after a few hours on the computer? These symptoms are once in a while so standard that we dont even recognize them as real issues.
A US study showed retina cells grown in a laboratory were completely destroyed when exposed to blue light.
Kids acquire empathy and problem-solving skills by playing and interacting with peers and exploring their immediate surroundings
And unlike with UV light, human eyes do a poor job of filtering out blue light. The biggest concern is recent studies suggest HEV (blue) light can contribute to retinal damage and macular degeneration an irreversible loss of vision. Research on this subject is just beginning, but early signs point to an association between long-time period exposure and serious consequences.
Then, you head straight to your computer at work and spend a majority of the day on it or using one of the many other digital devices, iPads, mobile phones and tablets that are available in todays increasing technological driven society.
Kids model parents behavior
So what can you do about it?
First, you can take steps to protect your eyes from the harmful effects of blue light.
Limit screen time to no more than one hour a day for young children.
While we know that blue-light from tablets and smartphones can have long-time period effects on our vision, its still too soon to tell the extent of the damage. However, there are a few widely accepted tips that will help keep your kids eyes healthy until more know-how is available.
Continual extended screen time can impact your eyes in two significant ways.
The majority of Americans now report symptoms of digital eye strain, including neck, shoulder and back pain (36%), eye strain (35%), headaches (25%), blurred vision (25%) and dry eyes (24%). Worryingly, the percentage of sufferers is greater among young people. Some 73% of adults under 30 now experience these symptoms, suggesting a generational trend.
The growing concern is the kind of light most digital devices emit. We are all familiar with the dangers of ultraviolet or UV light, but not many folk are aware of the risks of high energy light that we can see: blue light. Light on the blue end of the visual light spectrum contains more energy than warm colors like oranges and reds, and is understood as high energy visual light (HEV).
Imagine its 2035 and you get a call from your son who proceeds to tell you that, at the young age of 32, hes going blind as a result of macular degeneration.
Technology has permanently changed how we live and work. Our vision health has not caught up with technology and is dangerously behind. For todays digital workforce, awareness of dangers and solutions is critical. Technology may be evolving rapidly, but we still only get one set of eyes.
The more severe impact that too much technology consumption can have on our eyes is damage from blue light exposure.
Blue light is just what it appears like its a type of light that gives off a blue colour.
Intense blue light causes damage to the back of the eye, the retina and exposure in children could lead to early onset macular degeneration, the major cause of blindness for those over 50, and to earlier incidences of cataracts.
Exercise and a healthy diet, if its good for the body its good for the eyes.
So how do you minimize the potential damage to young eyes from blue light?
Todays youth may be known as the App Generation or the Connected Consumer. They were born during the growth of apps and tablet technology and grew up with devices at their fingertips.
According to a Nielsen Study, more than 70 percent of children under 12 use tablets and iPads. A recent Journal of Pediatrics study showed that:
The risk is less for adult eyes that have a natural defense; as we age, the lens starts to yellow, which then acts to block out some of the blue light. The difference for children is that their eyes are still developing and so they dont yet have the protective pigments in their eyes to help filter out some of this harmful blue light.
The first and most standard part effect is digital eyestrain.
When we look at a screen, our blink rate drops significantly, and our eyes wont placed up with that for too long without fuss.
This energy is also able to penetrate the complete way to the back of the eye, through the eyes natural filters, and thats the issue. Long-time period exposure causes damage to the retina. Dr. Franois Delori, of the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass. Eye and Ear, has been studying the effect of blue light on retinas and the resulting damage.
You ask yourself, how did this happen? You feel guilty and full of remorse.
The other issue that kids face is the use of tablets inhibits or reduces their fine and gross motor skill development.
To use a mobile device before that age on tasks that arent educational can be detrimental to the social-emotional development of the child.
Educate kids on the importance of blinking and taking frequent screen breaks.
As it is, the overuse of technology and lack of active and free play is limiting kids physical activity and the increase in screen time has led to the upward push of a sedentary lifestyle. In 1982, the childhood obesity prevalence in the United States was less than 4%. By 2004, that number had grown to about 30%.
You recall the time, you and his mother, sold him his own tablet to maintain him entertained and how you sold the kids a tablet or iPad so they would leave yours alone.
You have in mind the number of times you opened an app for him or a video on Amazon Fire and Amazon Kids.
Follow the 20-20-20 rule: placed the tablet or cell phone down every 20 minutes, look into the distance for 20 seconds and blink 20 times.
The effects of blue light are cumulative and can lead to eye diseases like macular degeneration.
Also, these kids face a healthcare time bomb of neck and back pain linked to the use of computers, video games and smartphones.
Blue light filters are a few simple ways to protect the eyes of all ages. Knowing that our childrens eyesight is more valuable and will last much longer than our trusty smartphones, tablets and computer screens is the lesson.
If you had known this at the time, his eye damage could have been have shyed away from with a simple blue light filter for a nominal fee of less than $10. He tells you that he doesnt blame you because the industry knew and ignored the risk.
The World Health Organization recently published an extensive article on what digital devices are doing to our eyes and the resulting eye strain. They stated Digital eye strain is now a real condition, defined as the physical eye discomfort felt after two or more hours in front of a digital screen. As screen time increases at home and in the office so do symptoms like blurred vision, burning eyes, headaches and disrupted sleep. In total, nearly two thirds of American adults now experience symptoms of digital eye strain due to prolonged use of electronic devices like computers, tablets and cell phones.
The Rise of the Sedentary Lifestyle
20% of 1-year-olds own a tablet.
28% of 2-year-olds could navigate a mobile device without assistance.
28% of folks said they use a mobile device to placed their kids to sleep.
The research showed nearly three-quarters of primary school children, and two-thirds of secondary school students, have reported back or neck pain within the last year.
This makes sense because, for many of us, the very first thing that we do in the morning is catch up on email before we even get out of bed; our kids are no different.
Todays modern lifestyles and the increase in technology are having detrimental effects on musculoskeletal health and, if not addressed, will have far-achieving consequences for our children, the future working generation, and society.
When children use touchscreens, they are not building up muscle mass thought to be necessary for writing, which means they suffer from decreased muscle strength.
Blue light emitted from these devices was the cause.
Kids acquire that capacity by playing and interacting with peers and exploring their immediate surroundings. If these devices become the predominant method to calm and distract young children, will they be succesful to develop their own internal mechanisms of self-regulation?
The closer we hold the devices to our eyes, the more intense the light exposure, and the higher the risk of possible damage.
Second, you want to talk together with your eye doctor about lenses that filter out blue light. The lenses have little-to-no tint and can help to minimize the direct blue light exposure that you get throughout the day from mobile devices. Many people who have these lenses noticed an immediate increase in eye comfort because of the improved contrast, which helps to relax the eyes. And if you have children, I would absolutely recommend blue light filter lenses or a blue light screen protector, and even more so if they have got trouble sleeping at night.
Blue light is nothing new.
Digital eyestrain is transitority. However, if left unaddressed, it can turn into a chronic problem.
With this exposure increasing over time, we are causing permanent damage to our eyes.
Our health is being impacted negatively by the amount of time we spend with computers, phones and tablets.
No one ever told you that his iPad tablet or the Android device, you had lying around the family room, would hurt your son.
Blue wavelengths are crucial during daylight because they boost our attention, reaction and mood but are disastrous at night as they interfere with circadian rhythm and disrupt sleep.
Print our coloring pages and work together with your children to learn how to hold a pencil adequately
The simplest way to address digital eyestrain is to blink more.
Just about every digital screen, computer, tablet, and smartphone now uses Light Emitting Diode (LED) backlight since it produces brighter and more colorful images as well as being energy efficient. LED also emits more blue light directly into the eye than preceding screen technology like Liquid Crystal Diode (LCD) technology.
Encourage your kids to carry out arts and crafts projects, science/STEM experiments and projects, and same to develop fine motor skills
This makes smartphones the worst offenders and television the least harmful.
This is a factual statement and is a first concern for eye docs across the country. The NIH has been studying the impact of blue light on human eyes since the early 2000s.
The use of tablets and smartphones among young children has simply become childs play, with kids able to skillfully tap and swipe before they can walk or talk.
The issue is the amount of blue light exposure that we get each day through digital device use.
You are a good parent. You were very contentious of everything your son did and what he ate.
Tablets and fine motor skill development
According to the study, tablet technology could interfere with a childs growing sense of empathy or problem-solving skills.
It has been well-studied that increased television time decreases a childs development of language and social skills, Radesky said.
Mobile media use similarly replaces the amount of time spent partaking in direct human-human interaction.
Nevertheless, the researchers have arrived at a series of unsettling conclusions. They said children younger than 30 months cannot learn from television and videos as they do from real-life interactions.
As childrens eyes are still developing, blue light can penetrate much more efficiently and directly into the retina.
Get kids outdoors. Reduce the risk of developing myopia from a lack of exercising long distance vision.
Blue light is everywhere, you experience it every day with sunlight. That stated, digital screens, fluorescent and LED office lighting drastically increased our exposure. Blue lights does have some beneficial effects, it boosts our alertness. When we are continually exposed to HEV light constantly, the sustained exposure may well add up, preventing our bodies from settling into healthy sleep.
Your son explains that all of the years playing together with your iPhone in a restaurant and playing educational games on the tablet you sold him when he was 3, have damaged his eyes.
Tablet light and toddlers eyes
Have you ever experienced slightly blurry vision after watching the computer all day? This is a sign of digital eyestrain.
Evidence shows intense blue light causes damage to the back of the eye and the retina. Exposure in children could lead to early onset macular degeneration, the major cause of blindness for those over 50, and to earlier incidences of cataracts.
If cannot limit your digital device of tablets, iPhones, iPads or Android devices such as tablets and mobile phones, cut back on using any digital technology a few hours before bed.
As a family, get out in the back yard and play a physically active game to help develop gross motor skills and muscle mass.
For your kids health, placed down the tablet, iPad, mobile phone and go play!
Use a blue light blocking filter on your screens
This cannot be possible
Mobile devices are everywhere, and children are using them more once in a while at young ages, Jenny Radesky, a clinical instructor at Boston Universitys Developmental-Behavior Pediatrics, said in a statement.
The impact these mobile devices are having on the development and behaviour of children is still relatively unknown.
Toddlers who use tablets or smartphones may develop long-time period problems with their hands and fingers, experts warn:
Tablets and kids social-emotional development
Researchers with the Boston University School of Medicine have now weighed in on those questions in a new set of recommendations published in the journal Pediatrics.
Blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much. So cutting back on digital technology, iPads, tablets, Amazon Fire, Mobile Phones, and Android driven devices use at night means getting better sleep, making people more productive at both work and school (and speaking from my personal experience, it makes children more pleasant).
Your immediate concept is how is this possible? Macular degeneration is a disease of the old. It is not a disease for young, vibrant people in the midst of their careers, just starting a family, and buying and furnishing their first home.
Blue light is harmful because its the highest energy wavelength of visible light.
A Harvard study shed a little bit of light on the possible connection to diabetes and possibly obesity, and Harvard researchers have shown that exposure to blue light, a pair of hours before bedtime, actually suppresses melatonin and delays deep REM sleep significantly.
You made sure he studied, was involved in extracurricular activities and every opportunity was available to him.
Half the world will desire glasses by 2050 due to screentime. Research suggests that 4.8 Billion people will be nearsigthed by 2050. Research has found a link between screentime and nearsightedness. The more time we spend on screentime increases the risk of developing myopia or nearsigntness.
You think back to all of the times you handed him your iPhone, or your spouses Android, to maintain him occupied at dinner with the relatives, at ball games, and while shopping.
In fact, Amazon has added a blue light filter to the Kindle Fire. The Blue Shade feature on your Fire tablet lets you adjust the colour and brightness of your screen. Blue Shade blocks blue light.
Schools are experiencing students with the physical development of a 3-year-old at age 5. Kindergartners arrive at school without enough hand strength and coordination to apply scissors or hold a pencil adequately. In fact, only about half can hold a pencil adequately, versus the fisted approach they must have grown out of by age 3.
This might sound simplistic, but blinking helps to maintain eyes lubricated. Another effective way to circumvent or help to resolve digital eyestrain is to follow the 20-20-20 Rule every 20 minutes, watching something at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. This exercise engages your distance vision and helps the eye to reset and rest.
Other studies have shown that that nearly half of U.S. consumers couldnt last a day without their mobile devices.
As touchscreens are relatively new, no one knows what the long-time period health consequences will be.
Children are especially at risk when it comes to the harmful effects of blue light exposure. These days, a lot of homework is done online, and many children own or have access to digital devices, e.g. tablets, Android devices, iPads, iPhones, Amazon Fire and Kindles that they are using for longer periods of time each day.
Get annual eye examine-ups until the age of 18.
