A tablet computer does not harm the eyes!

In the past, when talking about the harm of television to children, we would first scare them by saying that long viewing would make them wear glasses. Now the “old bogeyman” has several new friends — the tablet computer and the mobile phone: efforts are made to protect children's eyes from these “monsters” as well. What should really be avoided, and where do the causes of myopia lie, especially when it comes to our little ones?

Australian scientists observed thousands of children for several years to find out how spending time outdoors during daylight affects myopia. It was found that among those children who stayed outside several hours longer than their peers, myopia occurred less frequently. This fact is interesting considering that long sitting in front of a television, computer and phone causes the greatest harm to a child's eyes. However, if you decide to isolate your child from the “harmful monsters,” it’s useful to know what modern technology can truly damage or delay in the child's body.

Based on conducted research, the Australian government prepared recommendations for parents to completely prohibit children under two years of age from watching television. Why? Watching TV from an early age can lead to severe attention difficulties and hinder the development of a child’s ability to speak. Moreover, due to new technologies, another problem has spread among Australian children — obesity (every fifth child is overweight). While watching TV for a long time, the child does not move, does not play, communicates little, and therefore develops linguistic skills more slowly.

Speaking about children's vision, more and more doctors in Lithuania and abroad acknowledge that watching television, using a tablet computer, writing and reading SMS messages are just as harmful as reading books, doing careful and intense work in one place, and similar activities, because they all share one common problem — the inability to timely take tired eyes away from the task and let them rest.

To prevent early myopia and deterioration of adult eyesight when working long hours at a computer, it is necessary to follow long-known rules: every 45 minutes, take your eyes off the screen and look into the distance for 5–10 minutes, do simple eye exercises that activate the eye muscle (which has been directed at the computer screen or book for a long time) and stimulate eye blood circulation: move your eyes sideways, up and down, practice the near-far exercise (focusing on a distant object and returning to one closer). In this way, the eyes are freed from strain and dryness. It is important to do all these exercises without glasses so that the eyes are not allowed to “be lazy.” Ideally, when working intensively, it would be useful to go for a short walk every few hours.

There is no need to fear tablet computers replacing books in schools — after all, you can enlarge the letters on them, the text has good lighting, etc. When doing any work that poses a risk of myopia or watching television intensively, it is important to do exercises, stay in a well-lit room so the eyes don’t become overly tired, and not forget the most important thing — to allow the eyes to rest. Even if it is just the innocent reading of a book!