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Tech tiring your eyes? Take the strain out of your screen time with these tips

Our vision is built for range. An average person can see a candle flame at more than 2.5km away. The Andromeda Galaxy is over 2.5m light years away, and we can see that as well. Yet today, we spend much of our time looking at things that are less than an arm’s length away. We check out a sunset by looking down and a bit to the right. Or wherever we’re holding our phone. This is a new habit for us as a species, and it seems we haven’t adapted to it very well. Maybe that’s why in 2021, according to a study conducted by YouGov, almost 7 in 10 Australian adults reported feeling problems with their eyes, or headaches, after using phones, laptops, tablets and the like. The figure was even higher…

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You’ve got a headache for the third time this week, and the culprit could be anything: stress, a migraine, a burgeoning cold, or any of a hundred other things you’ve found on WebMD. But what if the pain is just coming from eye strain?

 Seven ways … to avoid eyestrain

These days, if we’re not staring at our smartphones, we’re sitting in front of computers. And more than half of office workers have reported the symptoms of eyestrain. How do you protect yourself?

 Staring at Your Computer and Phone Might Be Damaging Your Eyes. Here's How to Fix That

I recently felt fairly certain that I was going blind. Despite being 20/20 my entire life, I'd noticed that my vision was frequently blurry, my eyes were frequently red, and I spent 24/7 staring at either my phone or computer screen. I was reading the Vision Council's 2015 Digital Eye Strain Report (ironically, while staring at my work computer) and found this information particularly of interest: "On average, a person going through his or her daily routine blinks about 18 times per minute. However, spending significant amounts of time staring at a screen causes blink rates to reduce, resulting in dry, itchy, or burning eyes." Sound familiar? That's digital eye strain, or "the physical discomfort felt after two or more hours in front of a digital screen." Now, since screens aren't going anywhere (and, if anything, we're just adding more and more each passing year), all we can do about this is ensure we are blinking (Go ahead, do it right now. I'll wait.) and maintaining the proper distance from and alignment with our monitors. Here are a few tips around that topic...

 To prevent digital eye strain, give those peepers a little love

You can strain your eyes if you stare at a screen for too long, say eye doctors — and that can cause eye fatigue, headaches and blurry vision. Ophthalmologist Dr. Rupa Wong and optometrist Dr. Valerie Lam explain how to avert those symptoms with 5 eye care tips.

Articles of Interest

Blue-Light Glasses Are Unlikely to Help Eye Strain. Here’s What Does.

There are cheaper and more effective ways to salvage your eyes from all that screen time.

Digital eye strain: prevalence, measurement and amelioration

Digital device usage has increased substantially in recent years across all age groups, so that extensive daily use for both social and professional purposes is now normal. Digital eye strain (DES), also known as computer vision syndrome, encompasses a range of ocular and visual symptoms, and estimates suggest its prevalence may be 50% or more among computer users.

Do blue-light glasses really work? Can they reduce eye strain or help me sleep?

We found no benefit of using blue light-filtering lenses, over standard (clear) lenses, to reduce eye strain with computer use. This conclusion was based on consistent findings from three studies that evaluated effects on eye strain over time periods ranging from two hours to five days.

Eye Strain: How to Prevent Tired Eyes

When you spend long hours working on the computer, reading a book or driving, you may experience what some would call eye strain. But did you know the phrase "eye strain" means different things to different people?

How to minimize eye strain in a world of screens

Digital eye strain is on the rise. NPR's Life Kit has tips for keeping your eyes healthy in a world of screens.

How to Stop Eye Strain When You Relentlessly Stare at Screens

Now that most of work and life has gone virtual, all that screen time is causing eye pain everywhere. Here, a few fixes.

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Most of us spend hours every day in front of a computer monitor. Sandra Haurant suggests you take screen breaks often and get your eyes tested regularly.

Is This Article Harming Your Eyes?

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The Science Behind Digital Eye Strain and What ODs Should Know

Digital eye strain—aka computer vision syndrome—is prevalent...

Top 5 Tips to Avoid Digital Eye Strain

Our lives are increasingly centered around screens — at work, at home and at play. As our amount of time in front of computers, phones, tablets and other screens increases, digital eye strain is becoming a significant issue.

What staring at a screen all day is doing to your eyes

Eye strain is the second-most common complaint of computer vision syndrome, and can be accompanied by headaches and pain in or around the eyes. It, too, is mainly caused by the extra work your eyes are doing as you read all day.

You Asked: What’s the Best Way to Stare at Screens All Day?

Fortunately, there don’t seem to be any long-term vision or eye-health issues related to the dry, achy, itchy sensations you feel after your marathon screen sessions, says Dr. Joshua Dunaief, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. “There is no evidence that eye strain leads to chronic issues or harm,” he says. However, he says that it is theoretically possible we could find out years from now that too much screen-time messes with our eyes or vision. But for now, short-term symptoms—like headaches, eye pressure and dry eyes—are your biggest worries.