A message from the IT department: a new setting for your phone!
Blog vol 5.28. A message from the IT department: a new setting for your phone!
The ubiquitous small screen. How many times a day do we look at it? There are a few things we can do to alleviate the impact on our eyes and vision aside from the obvious, i.e. less screen time.
I have many conversations with patients and their families on a daily basis. Last week a parent told me about a setting on your iPhone that tells you if you are too close to your screen. It made me wonder if Siri has been reading my blogs and reporting back to Apple. What a great idea!
Last blog we were looking at the impact of daylight on slowing myopia development in children (myopia is reduced distance vision); this week we are considering the impact of screen distance. Holding your phone or device close increases the work your eyes have to do to see clearly. This extra work equates to an increase in myopia in children and plain old eye strain in adults.
The people at Apple put a setting in that warns you are too close to your screen. They set it at twelve inches. When it is turned on, the screen will pop up with this alert that you are closer than twelve inches. You just have to tap the screen to continue and move the screen away to start again. This feature is available on other types of phones, of course, and is especially important for children.
On an iPhone, go to “Settings”, then “Screen time”, then go to “Screen Distance” and make sure it is on.
While in Settings…
Take a look at the “Display & Brightness” setting, where you can adjust text size, screen brightness, and set the phone to be on “Night Shift” reducing blue light exposure in the evenings. All these settings make screen time easier on your eyes.
Observe the 20/20/20 rule, not a setting but a general guideline. When you are 20 minutes on a screen, take a 20 second break, looking at 20 feet away. This gives your eyes a break. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to do a screen time assessment. You are the boss of this little device, you decide how it best fits into your life in a way that enhances your well-being.
We are not going to stop using our phones so let’s be smarter in how we use them.
Til next week,
The good doctor
