Analysis of Problematic Smartphone Use Across Different Age Groups within the Components Model of Addiction. A 2015 report from The Vision Council, Hindsight Is 20/20/20: Protect Your Eyes from Digital Devices, found that 61 percent of Americans have experienced eye strain after prolonged use of electronic devices nearly 2 out of every 3 people. Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk for premature birth. nts were asked to indicate the total duration of digital device use before and during COVID era. For instance, a birth cohort study (N=5074 participants) showed that increased computer use was associated with myopia development in children [65]. In just four decades, U.S. myopia prevalence has gone from 25% of Americans to about 42%, while a 2018 study of 60,800 children in southern California found 59% of 17- to 19-year-olds were myopic. Take breaks every 20 minutes, shifting eyes to look at an object at least 20 feet away for at least 20 . Notably, the number of smartphone users in China was around 700 million in 2018, accounting for half of the Chinese population [3]. What is the Impact of Smartphones on the Eyes of Children A cross-sectional study (N=2639 participants) indicated that 22.8% of teenagers were addicted to smartphone use, which was related to hypertension [16]. These symptoms may be caused by poor lighting, glare, an improper work station set-up, vision problems of which the person was not . The LOO sensitivity test indicated that the results are robust, with the ESs ranging from 0.65 to 0.82, and all of the ESs were statistically significant (Figure 8). Ramamurthy D, Lin Chua SY, Saw S. A review of environmental risk factors for myopia during early life, childhood and adolescence. Excessive use of mobile devices and children's physical health Li L, Zhong H, Li J, Li C, Pan C. Incidence of myopia and biometric characteristics of premyopic eyes among Chinese children and adolescents. The amount of HEV light exposure a person receives depends on many factors, including screen technology, screen size, screen brightness, distance from the screen to the users face, and duration of use. Dr. Heiting explains. A more detailed summary of the characteristics of the included studies and the main outcomes is provided in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively. There are many potential health risks to mental and physical well-being related to overuse of cell phones, especially low IQ & improper mental growth in children, sleep deprivation, brain tumors and psychiatric diseases are hot-button issues. The 8.7-inch screen runs an 800 x 1340 pixels resolution, which isn't the highest, but it's more than enough for watching stuff online and Zoom meetings. To minimize publication bias, we also searched for additional studies in grey literature sources, including Virtual Health Library [30], NARCIS [31], Grey literature report [32], and Open grey EU [33]. This leads to an unhealthy sleep cycle as kids sleep more during the day and less at night. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) of visual impairment in the smartphone overuse group compared to the reduced-use group from leave-one-out analysis. Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta-analysis. Some studies have explored the relationships between digital screen time (eg, computer, tablet, smartphone, or other handheld electronic screens) and visual impairment [58,61,63-66]. For instance, smartphones are used by children mainly for playing games (29%) and watching videos (20%) but also for learning (19%) [70]. After all, your child will be exposed to these devices sooner or later. Sweden, 3 The Apple iPad (9th generation) might be aging technology but thanks to Apple supporting its products for longer than most, it's still ideal if you want one of the best tablets but need to keep costs down. Third, the assessment of the outcome was inconsistent. In fact, you can grab it from Samsung for even less than it usually goes for; $120 rather than $160, which is a significant discount relative to its price. Understanding human behavior and the social environment. We included all observational studies and controlled trials (randomized or nonrandomized) addressing smartphone use and visual impairment in humans since the beginning of the databases up to June 2020. Gift Article. Several studies found increased use of digital devices in children aged 2-11 years old [14,15]. There is also some evidence that children 9-11 years old who spent less than 2 hours playing on a computer were 1.98 times more likely to spend more than 1 hour outside than those reporting 2 or more hours of computer use [71]. The RF EMR may affect the body thermally and nonthermally [81], which may result in oxidative stress in the cornea and the lens [74]. Electronic devices are the main cause of eye problems in children. Wang SK, Guo Y, Liao C, Chen Y, Su G, Zhang G, Zhang L, He M. Incidence of and Factors Associated With Myopia and High Myopia in Chinese Children, Based on Refraction Without Cycloplegia. Although experimental studies may provide causal inferences, our result needs to be further confirmed due to the limited number of existing studies. Hansen MH, Laigaard PP, Olsen EM, Skovgaard AM, Larsen M, Kessel L, Munch IC. These same tips are good practices for adults and anyone suffering from chronic dry eyes or eye strain. These include: Do not give cell phones if your child is under 16 years. In all of the controlled trials, the smartphone overuse group showed worse visual function scores than the reduced-use group, with ESs ranging from 0.40 to 0.91 (Figure 7). Mean age of children was 13 2.45 years. How to prevent eye fatigue when using mobile devices As a parent, barring your child from using mobile devices may not be the best or most practical approach. Among those injured is a very young child. Instead, you should consider setting limits for your child when it comes to the use of such devices. McCrann S, Loughman J, Butler JS, Paudel N, Flitcroft DI. As children grow, their eyes change quickly. Zhai X, Ye M, Wang C, Gu Q, Huang T, Wang K, Chen Z, Fan X. improve sleep reduce digital eye strain and prevent eye disease We all want to do these things, but it's not necessary to spend money on special eye wear for computer use. Effects of mobile phones on oxidant/antioxidant balance in cornea and lens of rats. Does wireless charging degrade your battery faster? Jones LA, Sinnott LT, Mutti DO, Mitchell GL, Moeschberger ML, Zadnik K. Parental history of myopia, sports and outdoor activities, and future myopia. Congressional Republicans Distort a New Report on the Global Minimum Tax. Want to know more about myopia and amblyopia? The contribution of each study to the heterogeneity and their influence on the pooled OR or ES were assessed using the Baujat plot [41]. Similarly, a study conducted in Ireland (N=418 participants) indicated that smartphone use time was not a risk factor for myopia [26]. Though this might sound unhealthy, it actually serves as a natural defense against UV damage from the sun's rays and other sources of shorter-wavelength light. A P value <.05 from the noncentral chi-squared test for heterogeneity was considered to indicate statistically significant heterogeneity [40]. Should you leave your smartphone plugged into the charger overnight? Were spending almost as much time staring at screens as we do sleeping. For any disagreements that occurred between the two investigators regarding the eligibility of a study, there was a thorough discussion or advice from an academic expert (YC). Children can experience less sleep and are less able to focus. Sweden. Fluctuating vision Tired eyes Headaches Neck, back, or shoulder pain What helps with digital eye strain? Associations among physical activity and smartphone use with perceived stress and sleep quality of Chinese college students. The few most strongly associated hazards of extended/unreasonable use of mobile phones on children are cancer, effects on the brain, non-malignant tumors, etc. Interestingly, 84% of myopes believed digital technology could adversely affect their eyes as compared to 68% of non-myopes with both groups citing dry eyes (67%) and eyestrain (29%). However, the results of studies assessing the impacts of screen time on visual impairment have been mixed. Fortunately, amblyopia is completely treatable if the condition is diagnosed early preferably before the age of six. The flowchart of article searching and screening is shown in Figure 1. However, there is also evidence that the increased use of digital devices is associated with more time at work and less time spent outdoors, resulting in a substitution effect [58,69]. We asked every major manufacturer, Heres how to use split-screen mode on your Android phone, 26 percent of Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, 32 percent of Gen Xers, born between 1965 and 1980, 37.4 percent of Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996. Sleep-friendly screen behavior recommendations for clinicians, educators, and parents. Wu P, Tsai C, Wu H, Yang Y, Kuo H. Outdoor activity during class recess reduces myopia onset and progression in school children. A recent systematic review showed that screen time was not significantly associated with the prevalence and incidence of myopia [58], which may largely support our pooled result of cross-sectional studies. Kim J, Hwang Y, Kang S, Kim M, Kim TS, Kim J, Seo J, Ahn H, Yoon S, Yun JP, Lee YL, Ham H, Yu HG, Park SK. Furthermore, a high prevalence of myopia from Taiwan was found in cohorts with low exposure to digital devices [56]. Dr Tay adds, Besides myopia, there are also less common eye conditions that may arise after a prolonged period of near work. Use an air-tube headset instead. A set of questions was asked about the screen exposure. government site. The findings add to a growing body of evidence detailing the effects of increased device use on refractive error and raise concerns over the next generation of Americans-iGen or Gen Z-growing up with a preponderance of digital devices. School of Medical Sciences, The home electronic media environment and parental safety concerns: relationships with outdoor time after school and over the weekend among 9-11year old children. An official website of the United States government. With young children increasingly playing for hours on end with mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, this might grow to be a problem for them as well. Researchers found an association between myopia and prolonged smartphone use, begging the question: What does the future hold for millions of kids growing up in the digital age? With the continuous usage of this mobile phones for the past 7 years, The Eye Practice has witnessed an large increase in . Smartphone gaming induces dry eye symptoms and reduces - Nature In terms of storage, you get 32GBs, and you can upgrade that with up to a 1TB MicroSD, which the Tab A7 Lite can easily handle, although going for a cloud storage service might help save a little on that if you have an unlimited plan. Electronic devices and myopic refraction among children aged 6-14years in urban areas of Tianjin, China. Physical Health. Dry eye and headaches are common side effects of staring at phones, laptops and tablets for long periods of time. Harmful Effects Of Mobile Phones On Children - MedPlusMart National Library of Medicine Congressional Republicans Distort a New Report on the Global Minimum Choi S, Kim D, Choi J, Ahn H, Choi E, Song W, Kim S, Youn H. Comparison of risk and protective factors associated with smartphone addiction and Internet addiction. These include convergence or accommodative insufficiency, in which the ability of the eyes to converge (turn inwards towards each other) or to focus well on near objects is impaired. rebro, A prospective longitudinal study of mobile touch screen device use and musculoskeletal symptoms and visual health in adolescents. However, these relationships need to be further verified. Digital Trends Media Group may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites. Possible side effects include headache, nausea, and drowsiness, but you will likely experience fewer effects than you would from general anesthesia and you'll probably recover faster and go home sooner. Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS), The life cycle completed (extended version). For example, some studies used a self-reported questionnaire to identify myopia [26,27], while others used an objective assessment [24,25]. Many eye care providers are concerned about the potentially damaging effects of high-energy visible (HEV) light emitted by digital devices because laboratory and animal studies have shown exposure to high levels of HEV light can damage tissue in the retina of the eye in a way that appears consistent with retinal changes associated with macular degeneration, a leading cause of permanent vision loss in older adults. says Dr. Heiting. With so many different models to choose from, various specs to consider, and seemingly endless options available for any budget, there's alotto consider before buying your next tablet. Overall, although the pooled OR showed that the odds of visual impairment was higher for the smartphone overuse group compared to the reduced-use group (OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.98-1.13), the result was not statistically significant (P=.16; Figure 3). A guideline advised limiting recreational screen time to no more than 2 hours per day [83]. The .gov means its official. Fourteen eligible studies (10 cross-sectional studies and 4 controlled trials) were identified, which included a total of 27,110 subjects with a mean age ranging from 9.5 to 26.0 years. Regarding the association between smartphone overuse and myopia examined in the cross-sectional studies, multiple ocular symptoms found in the experimental studies do not necessarily reflect pathological changes in the eyes, such as myopia. Prevalence And Associated Factors Of Visual Impairment Among School-Age Children In Bahir Dar City, Northwest Ethiopia. Furthermore, manual retrieval was performed following the initial database search to ensure the inclusion of the latest literature. Baujat B, Mah C, Pignon J, Hill C. A graphical method for exploring heterogeneity in meta-analyses: application to a meta-analysis of 65 trials. Because they emit HEV light (also called blue light), staringat phone and tablet screens may actually harm our eyes permanently. Methods A recent study indicated that about 60 years ago, only 10%-20% of the Chinese population was nearsighted, but the percentage reached up to 90% of teenagers and young adults in 2015 [10]. The survey was adapted from Common Sense Media's 2013 nationwide survey. You do not have access to this content. A gorgeous-looking 10.2-inch Retina display gives you plenty of room to see what you're doing and it makes everything look great compared to other tablets in this price range. Careers, Unable to load your collection due to an error. In fact, for every 15 minutes the child . Funnel plot with pseudo 95% confidence limit for cross-sectional studies. For example, a study including children aged 9-11 years from 12 countries showed that 54.2% of the children exceeded proposed screen time guidelines (2 hours per day) [15]. Long J, Cheung R, Duong S, Paynter R, Asper L. Viewing distance and eyestrain symptoms with prolonged viewing of smartphones. Children and Technology: Protecting Your Child's Eyes - All About Vision Some doctors of optometry may see an increase in patients seeking care during the summer months, whether theyre playing sports or battling dry air conditions. Studies were excluded if they: (1) were narrative reviews, editorial papers, commentaries, letters, or methodological papers; (2) evaluated visual function with no reliable/relevant estimates for smartphone use; (3) no reference or control group was included in the analysis; and (4) animal studies. For studies that did not report the OR, it was calculated using the numbers of cases with and without visual impairment of the reference/control group and overuse group. Thus, regulating use time and restricting the prolonged use of smartphones may prevent ocular and visual symptoms. Although these results might reflect a tradeoff between outdoor time and digital screen time, with screen time being a proxy for indoor time, there is no evidence to confirm this substitution effect [58]. There are also other limitations of this study that need to be addressed. Thus, the relationship needs to be further validated. Instead, you should consider setting limits for your child when it comes to the use of such devices. 335348. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (, GUID:B9C5EABA-2934-4128-8BC8-CB94D2828805, GUID:492043D8-AA29-4AB7-A3F4-42E4986F98F7. Received 2020 Jun 29; Revisions requested 2020 Jul 26; Accepted 2020 Oct 29. Egger M, Davey Smith G, Schneider M, Minder C. Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test. Yao K, Wang KJ, Sun ZH, Tan J, Xu W, Zhu LJ, Lu DQ. Tropical Storm Bret's winds rose to 65 mph on Wednesday as it closed in on the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. April 25, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. EDT. If the brain does not receive clear images during the period of visual development, it then learns to only see blurry, explains Dr Tay. First, a large number of studies have identified potential risk factors that may result in visual impairment, which included both genetic and environmental factors [20,26,56,58] such as age [26], education and occupation [58], outdoor activity [20,58], and parental myopia [20]. Screen time is not recommended. "The amount of HEV light exposure a person receives depends on many factors, including. A pooled OR of 1.05 (95% CI 0.98-1.13, P=.16) was obtained from the cross-sectional studies, suggesting that smartphone overuse is not significantly associated with myopia, poor vision, or blurred vision; however, these visual impairments together were more apparent in children (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.99-1.14, P=.09) than in young adults (OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.57-1.46, JW and YC assessed the quality of the articles independently and the final assessment was achieved upon discussion (Multimedia Appendix 2). It may actually harm your eyes. Alharbi M, Alem A, Alrizgi H, Abualnassr K, Abualnassr F, Alshencieti A. Liu C, Lin S, Pan Y, Lin Y. Smartphone gaming and frequent use pattern associated with smartphone addiction. Mary Meekers Internet Trends 2014 report found that the average American (aged 16-44) spends 444 minutes or 7.4 hours staring at screens every day. This study examined the effect of smartphone use on blinking, symptoms, and tear function in children. The funnel plot of ORs for the included cross-sectional studies appeared to be symmetric (Figure 2). Early evidence suggests exercise could help prevent some eye diseases. Smartphone use by children is rising rapidly, but its ocular surface impact is unknown. excessive mobile phone use has been linked to symptoms of . That's why we suggest buying it now and choosing the longest shipping method so the return window spans all of Prime Day so you can return it if it somehow gets even cheaper. Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology: a proposal for reporting. We asked the experts, When is your phone getting Android 8.0 Oreo? Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses. Upgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks. Khurana VG, Teo C, Kundi M, Hardell L, Carlberg M. Cell phones and brain tumors: a review including the long-term epidemiologic data. 10 Bad Effects of Electronic Devices on Kids - FirstCry Parenting For the 4 controlled trials, the smartphone overuse groups showed worse visual function scores compared with the reduced-use groups. Previous studies indicated that myopia prevalence increased more rapidly in people with more years of education and intensive schooling without particular exposure to screen devices [54-56]. Strain on the Eyes. In addition, the heterogeneity was high in the meta-analysis of included cross-sectional studies. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) of visual impairment in the smartphone overuse group compared to the reduced-use group. Need even more motivation to keep to your exercise resolution this New Year? Leave-one-out (LOO) analysis was also performed to investigate the influence of a single study on the pooled effect as an additional sensitivity analysis [44]. During use, mobile phones and cordless phones emit radiofrequency (RF) radiation. Lanca C, Saw S. The association between digital screen time and myopia: A systematic review. RESULTS: Most households had television (97%), tablets (83%), and smartphones (77%). Were spending almost as much time staring at screens as we do sleeping, the Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the average nights sleep for an American (aged 25-54) at 7.7 hours. But no one knows for sure at this point if prolonged use of digital devices causes sufficient exposure to HEV light to cause permanent eye damage.. Therefore, further studies in this field should use a broadly recognized standard to define smartphone overuse. P=.71). SingHealth group, shares more about the negative effects these devices may have on a childs eyesight if excessive use sets in. No matter what other countries do, the U.S. would be better off if it implements the international agreement to impose a global minimum tax on corporations. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize the existing evidence on the associations between smartphone overuse and visual impairment in children and young adults, which may further guide potential interventions to reduce the harmful impact of smartphone overuse on vision in this susceptible subpopulation. Children 1-2 years of age - Effect of mobile phone on child eyes You dont need to worry about going cross-eyed, but your mom may have had a point about sitting too close to the TV. With the continuous rise in youth digital media consumption, the incidence of ocular problems has also dramatically increased. Your child's phone and tablet could be harming their eyes, expert warns For example, Dirani et al [69] reported that the lack of adequate outdoor activity might be related to the rise in digital screen time. Have 14-17h (0-3 months of age) or 12-16h (4-11 months of age) of good quality sleep, including naps. Why to Avoid TV for Infants & Toddlers - HealthyChildren.org In fact, 95% of American teens own or have access to a smartphone and nearly half say they're online on a near-constant basis. Recent studies have also extensively described the relationship between education and visual impairment [59]. Bethesda, MD 20894, Web Policies A systematic search was carried out in PubMed (US National Library of Medicine), Embase (Wolters Kluwer Ovid), Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate Analytics), ScienceDirect (Elsevier), and Cochrane library (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd) for observational and experimental studies that investigated smartphone overuse or addiction in children (aged<18 years) or young people (aged<40 years), and its associations with impaired visual function such as myopia, poor vision, or blurred vision.