A student walks into class and sits down, ready to endure a long math class of notetaking. As he gets his notes out and looks up at what his teacher has already written on the board, he finds himself squinting to see what was written, confused by the blurry characters on the board. The next day he may sit closer to the board so he can see, but it’s a temporary solution. This change in eyesight is a growing problem for students.

According to ScienceDirect.com, myopia prevalence among children has risen from 25 to 36 percent from 2010 to 2020, continuing to surge currently. Myopia, an eye disease, can develop when someone’s eyes are too close to a screen for too long, leading to clarity at close distances and blurred vision at longer distances.

“Since they’re seeing an increase in myopia in younger children and students, people are working on more myopia control such as special contacts and glasses,” optometrist Dr. Roshanka Moshtaghfard said.

Moshtaghfard concludes that eyesight is deteriorating and there is a myopia uprising mainly because of an increase in screentime.

“It makes your focusing stuck at that range of your distance to your screens,” Moshtaghfard said. “If you do that for four to 10 hours a day then your brain isn’t relaxing. You’re focusing. And so now your brain perceives that your world is to the distance or depth of the screen that you’re looking at.”

Then, looking away from the screen, things farther away are technically blurry. Since people gravitate towards being on screens more than getting fresh air and doing things outdoors, eyesight continues to worsen the more people of all ages are on screens.

“Thirty years ago, we were a lot more active, and we weren’t looking at screens in school, we were looking at books,” Moshtaghfard said. “So some of these technological advances are affecting our focusing system, even in the young adult population.”

While screen usage is nearly inevitable from middle school onward, maximizing time without technology and spending more time outdoors will pay great dividends for eye health.

“I tell my patients every half an hour, try to look away from the screen and focus on something far away so your focusing relaxes,” Moshtaghfard said. “I also tell the parents of my patients to have their kids play outside, throw a ball, kick a ball, do outside activities.”