{"id":14092,"date":"2021-06-16T14:41:28","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T14:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/?page_id=14092"},"modified":"2021-07-18T20:32:51","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T20:32:51","slug":"myopia-management-children-and-digital-devices","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/general-practice-optometry\/guide-to-myopia-management\/myopia-management\/myopia-management-children-and-digital-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"Myopia Management: Children and Digital Devices\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>On average in the United States, children ages 8-12 spend 4-6 hours a day watching or using screens, and teens spend up to 9 hours.<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Since the 1970s, an increasing number of children have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/what-is-myopia\/\">developed myopia<\/a>. <i>The New York Times (May 3 2021)<\/i> described the cause as being due to a mix of rising near-demands, such as<a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/guide-to-vision-therapy-for-adults\/what-is-computer-vision-syndrome\/digital-eye-strain\/could-your-child-have-digital-eye-strain\/\"> digital screen usage<\/a> and a lack of exposure to the outdoors.<\/p>\n<p><i>But how much time do children spend in front of screens, and is there a relation between the two?\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve looked into multiple studies to see what the evidence supports.<\/p>\n<h2><b>How much are children actually looking at screens?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>According to a study, published in the journal <i>Pediatrics,<\/i> conducted in Philadelphia on <i>four-year-olds<\/i> <b>over 50%<\/b> had their own television sets and <b>75%<\/b>\u00a0 had their own mobile device.<\/p>\n<p>The McCrann et al data usage study suggested that teenagers dedicate double the amount of time to smartphone use than they do to all other types of near work. This study also found that each younger age group spends more time in bed on the devices than the one before them.<\/p>\n<p><i>The Journal of Paediatrics (2011)<\/i> suggested that <b>47% of children<\/b> were spending more than<b> two hours a day<\/b> on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/guide-to-vision-therapy-for-adults\/what-is-computer-vision-syndrome\/digital-eye-strain\/could-your-child-have-digital-eye-strain\/\">screen for entertainment<\/a>, and by 2019 that number had <b>escalated to 98%<\/b> in the US.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\"><b>Schedule an appointment<\/b> <\/a>with an eye doctor near you who can diagnose and manage your child\u2019s myopia.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SEE RELATED: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/general-practice-optometry\/guide-to-myopia-management\/myopia-management\/myopia-management-is-daylight-the-answer\/\">Myopia Management: Is Daylight the Answer?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"practice-search-widget\">\n\t\t<h3>Find an eye doctor near you<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t<form class=\"practice-search-form practice-search-form-widget\" action=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/results\/\" method=\"get\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"page\" class=\"practice-search-page\">\n\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_latitude\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"address_longitude\">\n\n\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"address\" class=\"practice-search-address\" placeholder=\"City, Surburb or Address\" value=\"\">\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"distance\" value=\"100\" class=\"practice-search-distance\">\n\n\t\t\n\n\t\t<button type=\"submit\" class=\"practice-search-button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M10.6796 0.130005C9.15708 0.130059 7.66615 0.5646 6.38198 1.38258C5.09781 2.20057 4.07373 3.36803 3.43004 4.74783C2.78634 6.12763 2.54976 7.66246 2.74808 9.17205C2.9464 10.6816 3.57139 12.1033 4.54964 13.27L0.729639 17.08C0.6364 17.1732 0.562439 17.2839 0.511979 17.4058C0.461519 17.5276 0.435547 17.6581 0.435547 17.79C0.435547 17.9219 0.461519 18.0524 0.511979 18.1743C0.562439 18.2961 0.6364 18.4068 0.729639 18.5C0.917942 18.6883 1.17334 18.7941 1.43964 18.7941C1.5715 18.7941 1.70207 18.7681 1.82389 18.7177C1.94571 18.6672 2.0564 18.5932 2.14964 18.5L5.99964 14.62C7.35406 15.6038 8.98566 16.1324 10.6596 16.13C12.7814 16.13 14.8162 15.2871 16.3165 13.7869C17.8168 12.2866 18.6596 10.2517 18.6596 8.13C18.6596 6.00827 17.8168 3.97344 16.3165 2.47315C14.8162 0.97286 12.7814 0.130005 10.6596 0.130005H10.6796ZM10.6796 14.13C9.49295 14.13 8.33291 13.7781 7.34622 13.1188C6.35952 12.4595 5.59049 11.5225 5.13636 10.4261C4.68224 9.32975 4.56342 8.12335 4.79493 6.95946C5.02644 5.79558 5.59788 4.72648 6.437 3.88736C7.27611 3.04825 8.34521 2.4768 9.5091 2.24529C10.673 2.01378 11.8794 2.1326 12.9757 2.58673C14.0721 3.04085 15.0092 3.80989 15.6685 4.79658C16.3277 5.78328 16.6796 6.94332 16.6796 8.13C16.6796 9.7213 16.0475 11.2474 14.9223 12.3726C13.7971 13.4979 12.2709 14.13 10.6796 14.13Z\" fill=\"#fff\"\/><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t<button type=\"button\" class=\"practice-search-use-my-location\">\n\t\t\tSearch near me\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\n\t<\/form>\n\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<h2><b>The link between screen time and myopia<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/what-is-myopia\/\">prevalence of myopia<\/a> has grown over the past few decades, a trend that coincides with children&#8217;s increased <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/vision-therapy\/guide-to-vision-therapy-for-adults\/what-is-computer-vision-syndrome\/digital-eye-strain\/could-your-child-have-digital-eye-strain\/\">usage of digital devices<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><i>The question is: Is myopia caused by screen time, or are they co-existing features of today&#8217;s visual environment?<\/i><\/p>\n<p>McCrann et al, conducted a novel survey which focused on data usage as an objective measure of time spent on the device, and correlated that to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/what-is-myopia\/\">frequency of myopia<\/a>. They discovered a strong link between increased data usage and myopia.<\/p>\n<p><b>Myopic children consumed nearly twice as much data per day as non-myopic children &#8211; showing that increased data usage was associated with higher myopic refractive error.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The authors of <i>Ophthalmic &amp; Physiological Optics<\/i> published a systematic review in 2020, the aim was to discover the association between the time children spent on digital devices and any myopia incidence, prevalence or progression.<\/p>\n<p>The review took data from 15 studies which had explored this association and was combined with meta-analysis. The more recent studies agreed on an emerging trend of screen time being associated with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/what-is-myopia\/\">myopia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>These published studies show that it\u2019s important to encourage children to step away from the screen and spend up to 2 hours outdoors, every day<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Research shows that simply spending a few hours outside not even for exercise, but just for the sunlight, every day-will decrease the likelihood of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/childrens-vision\/guide-to-pediatric-eye-conditions\/what-is-myopia\/\">developing myopia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LEARN MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/general-practice-optometry\/guide-to-myopia-management\/\">Guide to Myopia Management<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.optometrists.org\/practice-search\/\">Schedule an appointment<\/a> <\/b>with an eye doctor near you who can manage your child\u2019s myopia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On average in the United States, children ages 8-12 spend 4-6 hours a day watching or using screens, and teens spend up to 9 hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14094,"parent":5609,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-article.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14092","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - 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