It’s no secret that most of us spend a large proportion of our days staring at our smartphones. And you’re most probably reading this on your phone! 

But what is the effect of smartphones on the eyes? The very addictive nature of mobile phones is what makes it happen. 

Checking social media feeds, playing games, or even doing some work, smartphones have become virtually inseparable from our lives. It has rather become a necessity than a product to flaunt.

All of this simply means that we’re looking at the screens more often than not. It brings us to a very important yet ignored topic – Our Eyes. 

All of this screen time is putting a lot of strain on our eyes – a lot! An article from the New York Post last year reported that smartphones might permanently ruin your eyesight. 

A study at the University of Toledo, Ohio, found that exposure to the blue light emitted from smartphones, tablets, monitors, laptops, etc., promotes the growth of poisonous molecules in the eyes.

Let’s dig deeper!

The Blue Light Effect

From my personal experience and conversations with ophthalmologists, it is a belief that blue light permanently damages the retina. 

The eye’s cornea can’t block or reflect the blue light. That gives the light a straight path to the eye’s photoreceptors — the light-sensitive cells in the retina. 

Overexposing those cells – like using your phone continuously throughout the day, can cause them to produce a toxic chemical, causing macular degeneration and even loss of vision.

Oh! and when photoreceptor cells die, they cannot regenerate. That’s a notably dangerous thing.

Moreover, we blink about 15 times per minute naturally. However, this rate decreases by half when we stare at our phones. As we squint to read these little screens (there are big screens like tablets, but still, it stresses the eyes), our facial, neck, and shoulder muscles tighten, our eyes become fatigued, and vision can be blurred or strained. This series of symptoms is known as Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).

What Does the Study Say?

“The retinal-generated toxicity by blue light is universal. It can kill any cell type,” said Ajith Karunarathne, who co-authored the study at the University of Toledo. 

Blue light has a shorter wavelength than other colors, thus having more energy (Energy=h/wavelength). This extra energy can cause a chemical change in the retina.

In a statement on his university website, Karunarathne states, “We caution the public that our study does not show that light from mobile devices or other digital screens cause blindness.”

He says, “Whether blue light from mobile devices and digital screens induces similar toxicity levels is an unanswered question and is currently under investigation.”

What Can You Do to Protect Your Eyes’ Health?

It is evident that long-term staring at our screens can bring an array of problems like dry eyes, blurred vision, headaches, and poor eyesight. 

Thankfully, the effect of smartphones on the eyes can be controlled. There are many precautions that you can take to minimize the damage that blue light emissions have on your eyes.

• Blink More Often – It helps the eyes stay moist. Consciously trying to blink reduces strain. We tend to blink less when we’re using our phones. Blink about ten times every 20 minutes or so, and you should be good to go.
• Invest in Anti-Glare Screen Guards or Eye-wear – There are a ton of different products that you can buy online or offline. Just buy some glasses, and they’ll filter out harmful radiation. Buy good ones, not cheap ones, though.

• Keep your screen clean. Eyes have to stress to look at a dusty, foggy screen.
• Adjust brightness according to your surroundings. For instance, dim it in a dark room and increase it in more lit conditions. Don’t make it too dark or too light. Both of these extremes put a strain on the eyes.
• Take timely breaks in your screen staring sessions. Follow the 20-20-20 rule. The concept is to take a break from looking at your screen every 20 minutes for 20 seconds while looking at something 20 feet away. Doing so relaxes your eye muscles considerably.
• Make text size a bit larger as it reduces fatigue while reading content.
• Hold your phone a bit farther away from your eyes. Try to increase the distance a little bit more than you normally maintain. It is desirable to hold your phone 16 inches away from your eyes. It may seem very far, but eyes can adjust with time.

TeCuriosity’s Take

Our lives have become linked with technology now. It’s not easy to detach from devices completely. But we should definitely try to reduce the amount of time we spend on our immersive phones and laptops. 

Well, it does not harm to do all the things that we love to do. But, you must not neglect taking care of your eyes. Senselessly scrolling through the feeds is what makes us glued to the screens. We should consciously train our minds to take charge and decide when to stop.

Technology addiction is a real problem. In fact, the effect of smartphones on the eyes is a concerning phenomenon. 

We at TeCuriosity, consider it a duty to encourage our readers to become mindful tech users. Take care!

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