Digital Eye Strain Comes with Modern Technology, But it Doesn’t Have to.

Nearly 70% of Millennials Suffer from Preventable Digital Eye Strain

While it is usually more of an irritation than a serious eye condition, digital eye strain can impact your working efficiency and even affect your visual acuity. Since the majority of us use a screen at least a few hours per day, it’s not surprising that so many struggle with the problem. A proactive approach to digital eye strain can, however, reduce or eliminate your symptoms.

While using screens is virtually unavoidable in today’s world, simple actions such as proper vision correction, working distances and illumination can make a huge difference. Check out our general advice on treating and preventing digital eye strain, and if you are still experiencing problems then give us a call and arrange to come in for an eye exam.

Your eyes may just be more sensitive than average, but it’s good practice to assess your eyes to make sure there is no underlying cause for your prolonged symptoms.

Everything You Need to Know About Digital Eye Strain

Cause

When we use laptops and other digital screens, our eyes are required to focus intently for a prolonged period of time. This puts stress on your focusing muscles and causes them to fatigue, or be strained.

Since most of us spend several hours a day (or more) gazing fixedly at screens and smartphones, digital eye strain has become more common than ever.

Symptoms

The good thing about digital eye strain is that the symptoms are not usually severe or permanent. They can, however, make life at work very difficult and affect other day-to-day activities. Symptoms include:

Tired eyes.
Headaches.
A dryness to the eye, with a burning or itching sensation.
Neck and back pain.
Blurred vision.
Difficulty focusing.

Treatment

If you suffer from chronic digital eye strain, you may be prescribed special lenses which are designed to help reduce the stress on your eye muscles and alleviate symptoms. However, the best treatment is regular rest: give your eyes a break from focusing and they will feel better.

Particularly if your job involves looking at a screen most of the day, try employing the 20:20:20 rule in the office: every 20 minutes, focus on something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. This should give your hardworking eyes a chance to relax.

Prevention

There are a few environmental factors which influence digital eye strain. At work or in the house, you should be able to control most of them, if not all, and reduce your chances of experiencing eye strain.

Increasing the amount of ambient light, particularly behind your screen, can help reduce the effort required by your eyes to focus.
If you have persistent trouble, come in for a comprehensive eye exam – you may need corrective lenses!
Try to position your screen so as to minimise glare as strong reflections can contribute to eye strain.