What is Blue Light?
Digital devices have become a daily, integral part of our lives. We use them at work, whether it’s bringing a laptop into the office or sitting at our screen. They reside inside our pockets. We working, researching, texting, and goofing around on our smartphones. Many of us have replaced them with traditional novels, opting for tablet computers like Kindles and iPads.
Truly, the electronic devices have made our lives far easier than ever before. We maintain all of the information we can, calculate faster, and more than anything now we need in our fingertips and eyes to work on these devices. It has made us more powerful, smart, and much better equipped to handle the world’s problems.
We utilize digital devices now more than ever before.
According to The Vision Council, a typical American now spends 7.5 hours in front of a display every day. In fact, the typical citizen of the earth spends the same quantity of time: 7 hours a day. A lot of this computer usage happens in the office (or if we are on our smart-phones). According to the same group, almost 50% of Americans have tasks that require extended computer use (that probably includes you!).
With this increased screen time comes impacts.
The American Optometric Association estimates that 50% – 90% of computer users suffer from symptoms of Digital Eye Strain (also referred to as Computer Vision Syndrome).
The Vision Council reports over 200 million Americans are suffering from the symptoms of this modern day eye condition. That is more than 50% of the entire country! What is more frightening is that the number is growing significantly per generation since younger generations use displays much more.
The Vision Council reports that 57% of Baby Boomers report signs of Digital Eye Strain this number jumps to 63% for Gen Y and up to 70 percent for Millennials. That’s a 7 percent increase in each generation! This comes as no real surprise given the Vision Council claims people can suffer from Digital Eye Strain even when they sit in front of the screen for even two hours a day.
What is Digital Eye Strain?
Digital Eye Strain (abbreviated to DES or CVS: Computer Vision Syndrome) are symptoms brought on by staring at electronic devices for a long time. You might also be wondering how one encounters eye pressure and what’s eye strain? In fact, this might be even a computer screen, a tablet, a laptop, or a phone. There is an assortment of eye pressure symptoms which people can encounter; some folks today report, and others report all of them, and many report a mixture. The most common symptoms include:
Neck pain / shoulder pain / back pain
Eye fatigue / tired eyes
Headaches
Dry eyes / itchy eyes irritated eyes
Eye discomfort
Blurry vision / double vision
Very similar to how folks experience various symptoms, some individuals are more vulnerable to symptoms of eye strain and Digital Eye Strain compared to others. Some expertise specific elements of Digital Eye Strain more acutely (for example, their eyes are incredibly tired at the close of the afternoon versus their eyes irritate them slightly).
