Growing numbers of people in their 20s and 30s are reporting
vision trouble. The cause is spending too much time staring at small screens.
Staring too much at tiny details in the confined space of a small screen
results in a condition known as presbyopia, a term derived from Greek words
meaning “old eye.” The condition may soon need a new colloquial name, perhaps
“smartphone eyes. Eye clinics around Tokyo report an increase of young people
suffering from such symptoms as difficulty focusing on nearby objects and
switching focus on objects at different distances. A survey by the eyeglass
industry found that the number of young people reporting such symptoms of
presbyopia increased from 0.5 percent in 2012 to 6.7 percent in 2013.
Japanese smartphone ownership increased roughly from 40 percent
to 60 percent during the same period. In a report from South Korea, people in
their 30s with presbyopia more than doubled over the past five years, as
smartphones, tablet and laptop computers, electronic books and car navigation
systems proliferated, just as they have in Japan. Though an exact causal
connection has not been proven, concentrating on a smartphone screen can cause
the ciliary muscles that focus the crystalline lens to lose function.
It is too simplistic to say smartphones directly cause
presbyopia. However, doctors and clinics have found that the onset of such
symptoms, which generally used to be in the mid-40s, is now starting much
earlier. Other reports have found that other eye troubles, such as dry eye,
fatigue and pseudomyopia (temporary nearsightedness), have also increased. As
more young people acquire smartphones, and use them for longer periods, such
symptoms are likely to increase. Overusing them in variable or poor lighting
can make the effects even worse.
