Hi all, hope you are doing good.
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Today, I will discuss the causes, symptoms and treatment of increased screen time in children. Most of the points discussed here holds good for adults too. Let's start.
Causes
The increase in screen time in children, and adults for that matter, is mainly due to being restricted indoors, at home. The pandemic has ensured that we do not allow our children to step out of the house for non essential things and in most countries, education has been happening online for the last year and a half.
The obvious outcome of this is children spending an unprecedented amount of time in front of computer, laptop, tablet or even mobile screens. Not only are the screens being used for education but also for recreational activities like playing video games. We, as adults, have restricted their outdoor play activities and children are not really left with much choice.
Effects and symptoms
As a result of this increased exposure to digital displays, various symptoms show up in children.
Dryness of the eyes
This is the most common complaint I come across when parents bring their children for evaluation. When we intently stare at any screen for a long time, our blink frequency is reduced and there is increased evaporation of tears too. This leads to a feeling of dryness in the eyes and the eyes feeling tired.
Blurring of vision
This is seen in those children who do not take a break at all and are spending many hours together in front of a screen, especially at closer than normal viewing distances. Children can have blurring of vision for far and near vision. The blurring of vision for far is because the eyes go into a spasm of accommodation, in other words, the eyes are stuck focusing on a near object. Hence, the eye will not immediately be able to relax to look at a distant object. It is also known as induced myopia.
Blurring of vision for near also can happen, especially if the child has latent hypermetropia. Or also just spending inordinate amounts of time looking at a near object. The muscles inside the eye can be fatigued and not be able to focus at close objects.
Redness, tiredness, watering in the eyes, headache
These are all secondary effects of the above mentioned factors. Children may be seen to be rubbing the eyes because the eyes feel dry and this can lead to redness, further irritation and watering in the eyes.
The spasm of accommodation can also cause headache.
Long term effects --->Myopia?
As of now, a causal relationship between myopia (near sightedness) and increased amounts of time spent doing near work, has not been established. That said, excessive screen time should not be encouraged.
Prevention and management
The obvious remedy is to prevent the malady. This is easier said than done. Children are not the ones to sit quiet in a corner without doing anything for hours together. They have to be engaged in some meaningful activity.
During online classes, I have been told that there is a 10 minute break in between every session/period. This break should be spent in the children looking at some far away object, preferably at least 20 feet away. If there is a window nearby with a good view of the sky, just ask the child to look out of the window. The child should not be encouraged to play a game on the device or do some other activity involving the use of the digital screen.
When looking at the screen itself, children should be encouraged to blink frequently. Also, if they are required to look at the screen for more than 20 minutes at a time, after every 20 minutes, they should be asked to look at an object at least 20 feet away, for at least 20 seconds. This prevents the spasm of accommodation that I spoke about earlier.
If there is any persistent blurring of vision or headache or other symptoms mentioned above, even after following the advice mentioned, the child should be taken to an eye-care provider.
Thanks for reading and hope this was helpful. See you in the next one.