5 tips to protect your child’s eyes from screen’s blue light

The modern teaching methods require tablets and screens as a medium. Therefore, even if your child isn’t into playing games or scrolling through social media videos, they can experience eye problems due to the screen’s blue light. In this article, we will discuss about eye and vision problems that arise due to watching screens for long periods of time and tips to reverse the impact.

Eye problems caused by screen’s blue light:

Eye strain or eye fatigue — called asthenopia — is characterized by eye discomfort, dimness of vision, and headache. Asthenopia can be caused by overuse of the eye, for example during a period of prolonged focus on a screen. Any glare on the screen can further strain the eyes.
Children with eye fatigue may complain of headaches, eye pain, or feeling tired. They may lose interest in tasks such as reading.

The eyes can also get dry and irritated during long stretches of screen use. Focusing on screens makes one blink far less, which in turn causes the eyes to dry out.

It is scientifically proven that children who spend more time indoors are more likely to develop nearsightedness (myopia)

How to protect the children’s eye from digital screen strain?

Encourage children to follow the “20-20-20-20 rule.”
During any concentrated visual task, encourage your child to break focus every 20 minutes, focus on something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds, and blink 20 times. This allows the eyes to relax and to return to their natural position and baseline settings

The smaller and closer a screen is, the harder your child’s eyes must work to focus on it. If possible, encourage your child to work on a larger screen, such as a laptop or desktop computer, rather than a small phone screen.

The more reflection on your child’s computer screen, the harder their eyes must work. Lower the brightness settings on your child’s computer and other devices (there is often a setting that will do this automatically) and watch for glare on the screen to ensure comfortable viewing.

Make regular eye exams part of your child’s routine healthcare schedule.
Make sure at minimum your child is getting either the annual vision screening provided at school, or a vision screening at your pediatrician’s clinic.