How Computer and Phone Screens are Making us All Blind

LED lighting is all around us- it’s in our homes, it’s in our smartphones, and it’s in our televisions and computers. When you consider the amount of time you spend staring at a screen, sometimes multiple screens, you’re getting a lot of exposure to blue light. That blue light can be beneficial, elevating your mood and alertness. But too much of it can cause interruptions to your sleep cycle, headaches, blurred vision, and dry eyes.

Computer vision syndrome is caused by staring at screens too long or too often. You vision can be affected and you can develop migraines. In fact, an increase in childhood nearsightedness since the 1970's has been blamed on video games. One of the biggest problems associated with screen time is dry eye, which is caused by forgetting to blink to the point your eyes become irritated and red.

It’s estimated that by 2020 90% of our light sources will be LED. This will be great for the environment- LEDs use a tiny fraction of the energy consumed by more traditional power sources. But it may not be great news for our eyes or overall health. Learn more about dry eye and computer vision syndrome from this infographic!