Study Reveals Cases of Myopia On The Rise During Pandemic: Here’s Why Kids’ Screen Time Should Be Capped
With hectic work schedules and several household chores to tackle, many parents’ go-to method to calm their toddlers down is to make them sit with a cartoon or a fun educational video on a phone or laptop. However, that may not be the best way to keep kids occupied, according to experts.
A recent study conducted by a private Chennai hospital revealed that there had been a 25 per cent rise in cases of myopia among children in the last two years. In fact, the study further stated that those kids who spend too much time online have a five times higher risk of developing myopia. Furthermore, it revealed that myopia has increased by 100 per cent on an annual basis. The study was conducted in association with the campaign named ‘Children’s Eye Health and Safety Awareness Month’, observed every year during August.
For those of you who don’t know, myopia is a condition in which objects at a certain distance appear blurry, and excessive use of computers or straining one’s eyes for too long can be the leading causes. Therefore, the sudden spurt of myopia cases among children can be chalked up to the increase in online classes. Furthermore, the amount of time one spends indoors vis-a-vis outdoors is also a determining factor in myopia development.
Speaking to News18, Manjula Jayakumar, a senior paediatric ophthalmologist, said, ” Owing to lack of playtime in the sunlight outside the home and the fact that activities such as sports and exercise are minimal, children today are more prone to myopia. It also does not help that with schools closed, they are studying online, and all their recreational activities – like watching TV or playing games — have shifted to virtual platforms.”
What Causes Myopia?
One of the main causes of this condition is prolonged exposure to activities such as reading and writing when the distance between the eyes and the object of our vision is less than 33 cms. According to the Children’s Ophthalmology Association, WSPOS, such close-up vision can cause near-sightedness and other eye problems.
During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, it has become a common practice among children to gaze at the screens of computers, laptops, mobile phones or tablets for educational and other purposes and that too often for a long time without a break. “Such kind of exposure to digital devices can have a terrible impact on children’s vision. Moreover, digital devices that emit light also cause other problems, apart from myopia, like dry eyes and inability to see the light,” pointed out Dr Jayakumar.
How To Protect Children’s Eyes?
Mobile phones or laptops should be viewed with frequent breaks. For instance, if a child spends hours in front of a computer screen or mobile phone, he/she is more likely to develop eye-related problems and injuries than a child who takes frequent breaks while performing the same function.
Since online classes have become unavoidable, if possible, parents should encourage children to use laptops or computers instead of mobile phones. This is because the distance between the eyes from these digital devices is more significant than the mobile phone screen.
Children should also play for 1 to 2 hours in the sunlight outside the home every day. As long as they wear masks and take the necessary precaution, it will only do them good.
A healthy and balanced diet also promotes the overall development of children. Solutions to prevent the development of myopia include low doses of atropine eye drops and orthokeratology and RGP contact lenses.
However, if severe retinal detachment occurs, it cannot be brought back. Therefore, strabismus surgery is needed to restore the condition known as binocular vision. Extreme myopia is a disorder that may lead to premature cataract formation, open-angle pinkeye, irreversible visual impairment known as atrophic myopic maculopathy, and a rare cataract called myopic strabismus fixus. So let’s stay away and keep our children away as well from these as much as possible.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
For all the latest lifestyle News Click Here
