Is your child at risk of digital eye strain? Key symptoms to know

Digital eye strain in children is becoming a growing concern as children spend increasing amount of on digital devices such as smartphones, tablets, computers, TV and video game consoles etc. Extended hours of exposure to screens would lead to discomfort in the eye and potential health issues.

Following symptoms are commonly encounters in children due to digital eye strain:

• Pain in the eyes, feeling tired, sore, or dry
• Eye redness, irritation
• Headaches
• Blurring of vision
• Neck, shoulder or back pain
• Difficulty in focusing and
• Increased sensitivity to light

Constant exposure to digital screens would also have an impact on physical health and development of the child, can cause fatigue and decreased productivity, sleep disturbances, delay in language development, reduction in attention span and focus, reduced social skills, impaired reading ability, aggression in behaviour, increased irritability, stress, addiction etc. It can sometimes even lead to extreme conditions such as anxiety and depression. Thus it is our responsibility to make sure that children do not suffer from these and are being monitored and guided in the right direction.

Children are more susceptible than adults for developing digital eye strain due to the fact that young eyes are still developing and are more sensitive to blue light emitted by screens, which can potentially lead to more strain and discomfort than in adults. Younger children tend to over focus on close-up objects which may lead to eye muscle tightness, leading to early development of myopia or near sightedness, faster progression of myopia, blurring of vison and headaches. Also children tend to blink less often than adults thus leading to dry eyes and overall discomfort.

As per the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)following are the recommendations for permissible screen time allowance for different age groups:

For Infants (0-18 months)-No screen time, Toddlers (18-24 months)-Limit screen time to less than1 hour per day of educational content, Preschoolers (2-5 years)-Limit screen time to one hour per day of high-quality content, School-Age Children (6-12 years)-Limit recreational screen time to about 1-2 hours per day, and ensure the content is age-appropriate and for Teenagers (13+ years)- allow flexibility, but establish clear boundaries to encourage balance.

As we all know that prevention is always better than cure, here are some useful tips to avoid digital eye strain in children:
The 20-20-20 Rule: Encourage children to take a break every 20 minutes by looking at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. This helps in relaxing the muscles and reduces strain on the eyes.

• Adjust screen settings: Reduce the brightness, adjust the contrast, and increase the text size to make it more comfortable.
• The ambient lighting should neither be too low or too high. Also the brightness of the screen should be adjusted to avoid glare / reflections and excess strain on the eyes. Avoid using the digital screen in darkness, especially before bed time.
• Proper screen position: The screen should be about an arm's length away, with the top of the screen level with the child’s eyes.
• Use glasses with blue light filters or incorporate these filters in the device screens
• Blink the eyes frequently to avoid evaporation of tears and dryness
• Encourage regular breaks to relax eye muscles
• Prioritize educational, age-appropriate content and
• Encourage more of physical activity

Regular eye check ups with ophthalmologist would be recommended to ensure normal development of the eyes and to rule out refractive errors and treat at the earlier stage.

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It is worthwhile to encourage children to get involved in certain non-digital activities such as solving puzzles, story reading and story telling, drawing, colouring, building blocks , memory games, board games, craft work, baking etc which would help in cognitive and visual development and also reduce the chances of development of digital eye strain symptoms.

Dr. Samar Sengupta Consultant Ophthalmologist, Dr. Agarwals Eye Hospital, Kolkata