Long hours in front of screens is leading some youth to show signs of an eye condition typically seen among the elderly — dry eye disease.
This progressive and painful condition – sometimes described like sandpaper on the eyes – negatively affects both vision and quality of life.
Researchers from the University of Auckland surveyed more than 450 attendees, many of them teenagers, of an Auckland gaming convention.
It found that attendees, whose screen use was monitored using an iPad, averaged more than 43 hours of screen time a week.
The iPad also monitored their blinking, with the research showing screen time was leading to reduced blinking, consistent with patients with dry eye.
Alex Müntz, a research fellow at the university’s Department of Ophthalmology, said the research showed yet another piece of evidence of the toll from excessive screen time.
Müntz said the findings were replicated in studies elsewhere, and that it also confirmed doctors’ reports that they were seeing more young people with the condition.
To address the issue, the researchers recommended implementing routine clinical screening, educational interventions, and developing guidelines for safe screen use.
Their research was published in the journal Contact Lens and Anterior Eye.
SHARE ME