Convergence Insufficiency and Eye Strain Found in Children with Excessive Screen Time

Since the pandemic surged in the first few weeks of 2020, the global population was pushed to stay inside their houses. In the following months, strict health protocols were followed by anxiousness and doubt due to the limited activities that people actually do back in their previous lifestyles. Fortunately, the tension on lockdowns and quarantines eased for the last quarter of this year, thanks to the production of vaccines in many countries.

Virtual life and on-screen routines eventually became the new normal, and connections between families and communities have been reunited. But with the benefits that the virtual technology provided us throughout the pandemic, a new study found that there have been downsides in our excessive screen times.

COVID-19 Pandemic and the State of Eye Sight

New ophthalmologic research was conducted to identify the possible inflictions that an individual could get from being exposed in an increased screen time. Although prolonged interaction with optical or screen-based devices is known to have the capacity on damaging eyesight, the latest study focuses on the risks of screen time during the pandemic along, where most of the global population stayed at home with just screens as outlets of information, communication, studies, and social interaction.

The study was made possible through the efforts of Wills Eye Hospital experts. According to the collective data they gathered throughout the research, the pandemic caused a unique rate of screen time that has the capacity to inflict eye strain for both adults and children. The condition from excessive digital screen exposure is called convergence insufficiency, an illness that affects the reading ability of people. The findings of the new study were raised in the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 125th AAO 2021 annual conference.

Convergence insufficiency is an eye illness that affects the sense of sight. The condition could also include the difficulty of eyes synchronizing their functions whenever an object on perspective is close to the individual. In convergence insufficiency, one of the eyes seemingly becomes rogue and would not participate in the viewing function of the other, making the rogue one turn away instead of closing in with its partner.

Convergence Insufficiency and Eye Strain Statistics

According to a NewsMedical report, the lack of the organ's proportional movements causes the vision to either become doubled or blurred. The reading experiences of people with convergence insufficiency are also affected, as many cases confirmed that the condition makes letters and words jumble around the page. Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge and awareness regarding the optical disorder usually leads parents to conclude that their children have a learning disability. On the bright side, there are available treatments and solutions for convergence insufficiency, such as prism eyeglasses, physical eye exercise, and surgery.

Eye strain is a collective term over various symptoms such as headaches, eye fatigue, blurry sight, and even drying of eyes. Eye strain is mostly found in people with a daily routine that involves prolonged exposure to devices with digital screens such as computers and smartphones. The study included data from 110 participants who are students and were included in the age group of 10 to 17 years. The study determined that 57 and 61 percent of the group have eye strains and convergence insufficiency, respectively. Of those suffering from convergence insufficiency, 17 percent were severe cases.

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