A public awareness program was organized on 13th June 2022 in PGICH, Noida by department of Ophthalmology on effect of Screen time on Ocular Health.

Dr Divya Jain Associate Professor, Ophthalmology told that usage of mobile devices and laptop /desktop has become rampant in children. Statistics show that even in pre COVID era about 30% of children aged 7-12 years were using digital devices more than 5 hrs per day and 44% were given mobiles before age of 1 year. After emergence of COVID the digital device use has increased remarkably, with average use in children of around 10-12 hrs /day. The excessive use of digital devices can have deleterious effect on eyes in form of eye strain, headache, development of near sightedness or myopia, dry eyes and decreased focusing ability.

The digital device use needs to be curtailed and some points to be taken care are-

  1. To follow 20-20-20 rule, i.e. take a break of 20 seconds every 20 minutes and look at a distance of 20 feet
  2. Voluntarily blink your eyes to redistribute the tear film which becomes disturbed when we are viewing the screen for a long time due to decreased blink rate
  3. Proper positioning of digital devices from the eyes, mobile to be held at 1 foot distance, laptop at 2 feet distance, watch tv from a distance of 10 feet.
  4. Screen should not be above the eye level as this leads to wide opening of eyes and increased dryness
  5. Increase outdoor activity for children as natural light has been shown to decrease development of refractive error
  6. Screen brightness to be decreased and should not be facing window, door to prevent glare.
  7. Regular eye check up every 6 months for children or early as per need

Dr Ajai Singh,Director PGICH, stressed on curtailment of screen time and avoiding use of mobiles for recreational purposes and to modify habit of watching television while eating. He stressed on improving eye health by means of nutritious food in form of green leafy vegetables and Vit A enriched yellow fruit and vegetables and use of proper lightening while using digital devices. the devices should not be used 1 hour before sleep as the blue light being emitted from these devices can have a deleterious effect on the sleep pattern of children.

Dr Akash raj presented a Vote of Thanks and advised proper posture while using digital devices otherwise it can lead to the development of postural disorders like cervical spondylosis etc in the long term