• Question: Does technology damage your eye sight? and if it does why?

    Asked by Ashleigh to Daniel, Maggie, Ry, Scott on 15 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Ry Cutter

      Ry Cutter answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      Luckily we don’t think technology can cause permanent damage to our eyes (which is good, I spend most of my day looking at a computer screen!). But we can get some temporary problems if we spend too much time looking at a bright screen.
      The main problem is eye strain, this can cause tension headaches and dry eyes. If you’ve been watching too much tv you might start feeling a pain at the back of your eyes or neck. You might also feel your eye’s getting itchy!
      The reason we get dry eyes is because we blink far less when we look at screens (I had to fill this in a health and safety form), so to remedy that you have to remember to blink!
      To stop the tension headaches, every 30 minutes or so look at a something far away (about 20 meters) for half a minute. This gives your eyes a break.
      Also, it’s recommended you only spend 2 hours at a computer screen before taking a 10 minute break. (This is to help your eyes, but also so you ca walk about and stretch your legs) 🙂
      The joys of health and safety!
      Great question,
      Ryan

    • Photo: Maggie Lieu

      Maggie Lieu answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      In the long term the answer is yes because when humans were hunters, our eyes needed to be used to see things far away. That’s how we evolved, our eyes are relaxed when we are looking far away. Starring at our computer screens all day puts a strain on our eyes. Especially because we always look at the same distance. Also computer screens emit more blue light which is bad for our eyes too but also makes it harder for us to sleep because it changes the amount of sleep hormones in our body

    • Photo: Scott Melville

      Scott Melville answered on 16 Nov 2017:

      I’m pretty sure reading books is much worse for your eyes than watching TV 😉
      Like the others say, the problem is more about focusing your eyes on something very close for long periods of time. As long as mix looking at far away things (go outside) with looking at close things (watching TV, using your phone, etc.), then I don’t think there’s any real danger to your eyes 🙂

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