Our addiction to screens is damaging more than our health

Your mom warned you sitting too close to the TV wasn’t a good idea. It turns out she wasn’t entirely off the mark.

“Digital eye strain” is now a real condition, defined as the physical eye discomfort felt after two or more hours in front of a digital screen. As screen time increases - at home and in the office - so do symptoms like blurred vision, burning eyes, headaches and disrupted sleep. In total, nearly two thirds of American adults now experience symptoms of digital eye strain due to prolonged use of electronic devices like computers, tablets and cell phones.

It’s not hard to see why. For many of us, the glow of a phone’s screen is the first thing we see when we wake and the last thing we see before sleep. In between, we fill the hours bathed in LED light, staring first at documents and emails, then Facebook updates and Netflix. One of the biggest eye-burn culprits, not surprisingly, is the office, where being planted in front of a screen is often a requirement of the job. Our bodies and eyes just weren’t designed for modern digital lifestyles and workplaces.