Modern advancements in technology have brought forth many significant changes to the workforce in the last couple of decades. One of these changes is digitalisation itself. The proliferation of such technologies and digital devices has transformed the way of living, where one is often glued to a screen in some form or another.
Whether it’d be your work desktop or your smartphone, staring at the screen day in and day out doesn’t come without any drawbacks. Over time, you may start to feel discomfort along with other issues such as dry eyes and headaches. Explore the relationship between your eyes and your computer and learn what you can do to better protect your vision.
Digital Screens And Your Eyes
Heavy utilisation of digital devices has become part and parcel of everyday life. Due to overexposure to computer screens and phones, it’s not unusual to notice symptoms of computer vision syndrome like dry or red eyes, headaches, and blurry vision. If these symptoms become severe enough, it could warrant professional help from a virtual doctor in Singapore.
One of the main reasons why this syndrome occurs is because our eyes and brain don’t react in the same way when looking at texts and characters on a screen as they do on their printed counterparts. Viewing and focusing on characters on paper is less taxing because they’re in a dense black colour with clear-cut edges. In contrast, text on a digital screen doesn’t possess the aforementioned characteristics, forcing our eyes to put in extra effort at all times.
Additionally, anything else that can be viewed on a screen, such as images, are made up of a combination of tiny light points called pixels that’s difficult for our eyes to focus on for a long period. Continuous focusing strains eye muscles, hence why our eyes involuntarily want to drift to what’s called “resting point of accommodation” (RPA), a state of reduced level of focusing. What happens then is that our eyes move towards RPA and then strains themselves to regain focus once something changes on the screen. This back and forth flexing and relaxing of eye muscles creates fatigue and strain that leads to the symptoms mentioned previously.To start caring better for your oculars, discover a few habits to follow that promote your eye’s health.
Habits To Follow For Healthier Eyes
- Cut down your screen time
Cutting down your daily screen time is the first step to caring better for your eyes. You could start with putting away your phone or other electronic device hours before bedtime and enforcing limits on how much time you spend on your gadgets during free time.
- Maintain proper distance
Keep your screen at or below eye level and up to 50-70 cm away. Putting some distance between you and your monitor means your eyes won’t have to strain too much to focus, effectively reducing fatigue.
- Get rid of any glare
Glare from other light sources in your surroundings makes it even more difficult for your eyes to decipher texts and objects shown on screen. Thus, find a way to get rid of the glare by either moving away to another location or dimming the light source that’s causing the issue.
- Tweak your monitor settings for comfort
The brightness of your screen also plays a role in how easy or difficult it is to make out the texts and characters displayed. Tweak your options until you find the setting that’s most comfortable for you.
- Give your eyes a break every once in a while
Giving your eyes a break every now and then is crucial if you need to look at a monitor screen for most of your day. A good rule of thumb would be to follow the 20-20-20 rule. The rule requires that every 20 minutes, you must look away from your computer screen and turn your attention to an object about 20 feet (approximately 6 meters) away. Afterwards, look at that object for a minimum of 20 seconds. Doing so give your eyes a chance to relax and reset their focus.
Conclusion
Our eyesight is one, if not the most important faculties that we need to function daily. Caring for it ensures that it remains in good shape and capable of taking on the many tasks that you face every day.
If you’re experiencing eye problems that don’t seem to go away even with rest, see a doctor online via the MyCLNQ app today. As the leading app for telemedicine in Singapore, you can receive all your medical needs and have your queries answered all in one place. With the help of telemedicine, you can now get medical assistance without moving from the comfortable confines of your home.