DIGITAL ADDICTION TAKES A TOLL ON CHILDREN

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Published on January 16, 2020 by

Excessive use of gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets, and computers damages the eyes of the children. Studies from the last 5-10 years show that after handheld devices entered the lives of children. A major chunk of them is turning myopic due to their excessive use.

A study of Rajarajeshwari Hospital and Medical College in collaboration with the International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health finds a high risk of refractive errors in school children.

Ophthalmologist, Dr. N. Sriram, says, ‘Children as young as 8-10 are using mobile phones for rhymes or other things. While they use it, the mobile is kept very close to the eye, so the eye goes for convergence and it later leads to the Squint. What’s more, the dry eye leads to computer vision syndrome, the third one is near vision, they get used to the near vision and they don’t see the far vision, if they don’t see the distance, they don’t develop the distant vision clearly.’

The factors that affect the eyes of children are, usually mobile phones. Mobile has a radio frequency, this radio frequency kept near to the face of your head less than 2 feet. It affects the growth of the child.

The study shows Myopia was more in the age group 13-15 years (54.2%) and Hypermetropia was found to be higher in the younger age group of 7-9 years (57.1%).

Optician, Madhu Chandra says, ‘More than 50% of the customers which we get are from 10-15 years old.’

Extensive viewing of the computer screen can lead to eye discomfort, fatigue, blurred vision and headaches, dry eyes and other symptoms of eyestrain.

‘Mostly I used to watch TV and I like to use the mobile frequently. Before 3 years I started using glasses because of long sight and eye allergy’ says Muskan, of 7th standard.

Vasuki Ganesh, a Parent said, ‘My son is just 12 years old, and his power is -1.25. He was diagnosed with myopia in an eye test which was being carried out in his school. He uses mobile phones all the time and watches videos on YouTube. Sometimes he studies in dim light which also affected his eyes severely.’

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