Why Eyes Get Strained Using Devices
It doesn’t feel like you’ve done anything too taxing—just another day looking at your computer, checking your phone every time it dings. But, somehow, you still feel exhausted, like you can’t wait to close your eyes. The reason: Eye strain.
Eyes get strained using devices for a variety of reasons. Here are a few that may sound familiar:
First: You stare too long and too hard.
You know it’s true. You pick up the phone to check the weather and before you know it, you’ve scrolled your Facebook feed, checked your email twice, and read a blog post. While staring at our phones we fall into a time warp and, though we don’t notice. Our eyes do.
Fix it: Do whatever you can to give your eyes a break. Put down the phone and intentionally walk outside or, at a minimum, walk to the window so you can stare outside. Giving your eyes a break every 20 minutes is ideal. Be more aware of how long you go without blinking, too. Our tendency is to not blink as often while we are scrolling our feeds or reading on devices.
Second: You hold your device too close.
The type is small and sometimes it can be hard to see images on smaller screen devices unless we hold them close to our eyes. Most people comfortably read their phones at a distance of 8 inches, give or take a few. But, this is wearing on your eyes. They have to work really hard to focus on text and images that are in such close range.
Fix it: Hold your device closer to 12 inches away. If that feels too far for you, consider increasing the font size on your device so you can hold it further away. Or, better yet, get a pair of special reading glasses or computer glasses to help magnify your view and allow your eyes to relax a little while reading your screen.
Third: You’re still staring at your phone at bedtime.
Studies show that the blue light created by your phone can interrupt your sleep. That’s in addition to the reality that you’ve likely stared at your screen for a good part of the day and your eyes are already tired.
Fix it: Use the dimming or “nighttime” feature on your phone to reduce the amount of blue light. Or, better yet, vow to give your eyes a break and put your cell phone on silent and vow to leave it alone from about an hour before bedtime until morning. In addition to reducing eye strain, it’ll help you disconnect so you rest better.
Talk to your America’s Best optometrist about other ways you can help reduce eye strain.
