LETTER: During the pandemic, almost everything is being done remotely using gadgets, including online learning, from kindergarten to school to higher education.
E-learning causes the screen time of learners and teachers to reach more than three to four hours daily. Most of our working time is spent in front of an electronic screen too.
Browsing the Internet also add to our screen time. Prolonged use of digital gadgets may give rise to "computer vision syndrome" or "digital eye strain" comprising eye and vision-related problems.
According to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, computer vision syndrome affects 75 to 80 per cent of people who spend three hours or more in front of a screen daily.
Before the pandemic, many Malaysians were already spending a lot of time on their mobile phones, computers and the Internet. The main activities are participating in social networks, downloading applications, images, audio recordings and videos, finding information about goods and services and sending and receiving emails.
Spending a lot of time in front of digital screens will cause eye strain due to involuntary blinking, or the "blink reflex".
If untreated, this can lead to aesthenopic conditions, such as dry eyes, headaches, double vision, blurry eyes or refractive errors.
The latter can lead to myopia in children. In adults, there may be early onset of presbyopia or long sightedness, caused by a loss of elasticity of the lens of the eye, leading us to wear reading glasses at an earlier age than normal.
Eyes have minimal or no problem focusing on printed material. Printed material has dense black characters with well-defined edges. But characters on electronic screens do not have the same degree of contrast and definition.
Words on screens are created by pixels, which are nothing but a combination of tiny points of light. They are built in such a way that the characters are brightest in the centre and dimmer towards the edges, making it difficult for the eyes to maintain focus.
When our eyes constantly try to maintain accommodation and focus, there is a reduction in the blink rate, resulting in tear evaporation, leading to dry eyes. The ciliary muscles of the eyes that control accommodation for viewing objects at varying distances will become fatigued, leading to eye strain, double vision and temporary near sightedness.
In addition, there may be neck and backaches, too, due to postural changes to view a screen.
Eventually, one may suffer aesthenopic symptoms like ocular fatigue, drooping eyelids, pain in the eyes (periorbital pain) and double vision.
It is vital to take care of our eyes.
We suggest five strategies to take good care of the eyes during this pandemic.
First, reduce screen time as much as possible. Consider cutting down on watching movies or browsing YouTube on small screens.
Second, follow the 20-20-20 rule. This means walking away from a computer screen every 20 minutes for 20 seconds and shifting the focus of the eyes to some faraway object that is 20ft away. Taking periodic breaks by standing up or walking about and focusing on a distant object will help a great deal.
Third, consider wearing antiglare computer eyewear to prevent radiation from directly reaching your eyes. Mobile phones have built-in anti-radiation or blue-light filters.
Fourth, do some eye, neck or back muscle exercises when needed. Artificial tear drops can help relieve eye dryness or itchiness.
Finally, one should seek the help of an eye-care professional and undergo periodic follow-ups if you suffer from eye problems.
DR CHRISTINA GELLKNIGHT
Senior Associate Professor and
Head of Department of Ophthalmology, AIMST University
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times