How long do you spend on your smartphone each day? Cell phones have advanced significantly over the past few years and have come to play a significant role in people’s lives. It serves a crucial purpose in your day-to-day existence, whether it be for capturing memories or organizing your workload. Indeed, they are useful, but how much time do you actually spend on your phone? The worst scenario is spending nine to ten hours in front of your laptop before picking up the phone. The problem is made worse by smartphones’ potentially harmful effects. One such instance involves a Hyderabadi girl who was identified blindly in the middle of the night using her cell phone.
Dr. Sudhir Kumar, a neurologist at Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad, just lately shared a Twitter thread a couple of 30-year-old man affected by a probably blinding situation.
An individual identified as having a visible impairment as a result of using a smartphone
In one of her tweets, Dr. Kumar described how a 30-year-old woman called Manju was diagnosed with Smartphone Visible Syndrome (SVS) after using her phone frequently at night for nearly 1.5 years. Among symptoms, doctors listed floaters, bright light flashes, dark zigzag patterns, and occasionally having trouble focusing or seeing specific objects.
Further research into her medical history revealed that the condition was caused by prolonged usage of devices like smartphones. She was instead advised to spend less time on her smartphone in order to improve her symptoms rather than receiving any treatment to reduce her symptoms.
She followed the advice for a month, and things got much better for her. “Manju was entirely positive after a month’s assessment. Her vision impairment from the previous 18 months is no longer present. Her vision is now consistent, with no floaters or flashes. Aside from that, the brief loss of nighttime vision has also stopped “said Dr. Kumar.
Smartphone use can harm your vision.
The excessive usage of smartphones can impair vision and reduce one’s ability to see well. Many studies are available to back up this claim. According to a study published in the Annals of Palliative Medicine, those who use cellphones for extended periods of time run a higher risk of developing distance vision loss, near vision loss, and ocular surface pain.
In addition to adults, children should not use smartphones for extended periods of time. Several studies, including one that was published in the Journal of Medical Web Analysis, have also revealed that cellphones may contribute to children’s visual impairment. Long-term smartphone use can increase a child’s risk of developing eye conditions such myopia, eye pressure, and ocular surface diseases.
How can I scale back my smartphone use and keep away from imaginative and prescient issues?
Dr. Kumar offered some advice for people who spend a lot of time on their smartphones in the same Twitter conversation.
- Avoid staring at digital devices for too long to prevent severe vision-related impairment issues.
- The 20-20-20 rule should be followed when using digital screens. This means taking a break for 20 seconds every 20 minutes to observe something that is 20 feet distant.
Hence, limiting smartphone use is one of the greatest approaches to avoid causing such obvious impairments. In order to reduce eye and vision problems, usage cut-off dates should be established, especially for children.
