By Curtis Galbraith

Health

Alberta optometrists worried about increased screen time hurting kid’s eyes

Apr 26, 2021 | 5:30 AM

Alberta’s optometrists say parents are worried about the impacts increased use of devices are having on kid’s eyes.

Seventy-five per cent of parents who took part in an Alberta Association of Optometrists survey are worried about the effects increased screen time is having on their kid’s eye health.

Grande Prairie optometrist Dr. Pamela Giles says issues like near-sightedness and eye strain have “increased substantially” since the onset of the pandemic.

“It’s just been exponentially compounded this year just with kids having to do online schooling, homeschooling, the way that they interact with their friends via digital devices, family members that they haven’t been able to see. We’re seeing kids that are spending 40 to 50 per cent of their waking hours on a digital device right now.”

Dr. Giles says there are some arguments that the blue light coming from devices is leading to eye problems, but the evidence for that is mixed. She says the eye’s focusing system is not designed to look at things up close all day long.

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Dr. Giles adds kids who feel like there is something going on with their eyes should tell their parents.

“If they are feeling like they’re more tired after school than they typically are. If they’re feeling like by the afternoon they can’t quite keep up in the classroom, headaches certainly. Mostly it’s going to be fatigue-related or an inability to keep up as the day goes on or as the week goes on.”

She says some kids will complain about eye strain, but most won’t, and recommends parents bring them in for an annual eye exam.

Dr. Giles adds the recommendation is no screen time for kids age 0 to 2 unless it is a video call with family that lives far away and less than an hour per day for 2-to-5-year-olds.

She says it will be difficult to limit screen time with so many kids having school online but cutting back recreational screen time as much as possible would help.

“Something that’s really easy to do to, though, is if your kids are watching a tv program, get it on the tv. If we sit there and we’re watching a video or a tv show or a movie on our digital devices, that just extends the amount of near-viewing time and near eye-strain that we have.”

Dr. Giles says people should sit farther away when watching something or just go outside instead.