Smartphones are making Indian kids Myopic, numbers double in a decade, say India’s Pediatric Ophthalmologists

New Delhi [India], July 24: Myopia or near-sightedness is a condition in which near objects appear clear but objects farther away look blurry. It is the commonest refractive error typically affecting the younger population across the globe. With its rising numbers, it is estimated to affect half of the global population by 2050. Genetic and many environmental factors are responsible for developing Myopia. Myopia starts to develop during childhood and adolescent age. The older children may be able to tell the difficulties they are experiencing with their vision. Younger children might not express difficulty seeing but a change in their behaviour or other signs can direct us towards their vision difficulty.

Dr Jitendra Jethani – MS, DO, DNB, FNB, PHD scholar Director, Baroda children eye care and Squint clinic, Baroda quoted “Progressive myopia occurs in school going children and the two major causes for progression are near work and indoor sitting.If parents have glasses, the children should be checked at a younger age for glasses. With newer drugs and interventions the progression can be slowed down”
The most common sign you can see is, the child goes very close to the screen of the television or laptop. Similar behaviour is observed in school as well, the child goes very close to the board or screen or prefers to sit in the front row of the classroom to see things, clearly. Some children may complain of blurred vision or intermittent headaches.

India is the most populous country in the world with a greater number of young people. In this era of digitalization, the screen time of an individual has increased to a great extent. And kids are not exception. The use of smart phones, computers, laptops or TV screens have become a part of their daily routine. In past few years the kids are more home bound, involved in near work and their hours of outside playing has reduced significantly.

Dr Lav Kochgaway – Senior Consultant and Executive Director Netralayam, Kolkata quoted “As we are heading towards a situation in which almost 50 percent of urban children may have minus power – mandatory eye check up at three years and annually thereafter becomes even more important. Awareness about reduced use of digital devices and more outdoor games in children will help”.

The pandemic of COVID has added to this increased exposure of screen as more time was spent on smart phones for online schooling. Excessive exposure to smartphone screen has posed a severe surge in cases of Myopia across the globe. This environmental risk factor is found to be associated with both development and Progression of Myopia as many studies have determined. The GenNext’s inseparable connectivity to the devices is risking their vision multifold. Let’s understand how these smartphones or screens are affecting the vision? It is the ‘blue light emitted by these devices to be blamed.

Dr Siddarth Kesarwani – Senior Consultant Pediatric Ophthalmologist, JNR Children Eye Care & Squint Clinic, Mumbai quoted “An entire generation of children is at a high risk for getting progressive myopia due to excessive syllabus, early schooling, increased screen time and less time spent playing outdoors. Myopia is a lifestyle disease. Newer interventions like dilute atropine and novel spectacle designs can help slow the progression of myopia”.

Sunlight has a spectrum of light which contains red, orange, yellow, blue and green lights. But the light emitted by these devices is generally blue one which has high energy and short wavelength. Though blue light is naturally present in the environment, it is something in higher amounts from the screens of smartphones and is harming the vision. It was observed in a study that children’s eyes absorb more blue light than the adult’s eyes emitted by these devices. A study says, Myopic children use twice as much smartphone data each day as their non-myopic peers. This added blue light exposure from these devices lead to eye strain and more seriously a condition called macular degeneration.

It was estimated in an article published in 2020 that, Myopia prevalence globally could reach 52% in the next 3 decades, which is alarming.

Dr Ramesh Kekunnaya – FRCS, Network Director L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad quoted “Overviewing / over usage of screens of smartphones and tablets could be a risk factor for the onset of myopia and its progression. Additionally, it can cause issues related to sleeping, eating, and other behavioural issues in children. So I urge parents to use all these gadgets wisely and keep the children away from using them unnecessarily and encourage /engage them in various outdoor activities and games”.

There has been found a steady growth in cases of Myopia or short-sightedness over last few decades. In Indian many studies had been conducted to assess the Myopia situation in rural and urban set ups. The prevalence of Myopia in kids in urban area was 8.5% while in rural area it was 6.1%, a study published in 2020 says. But the more concern has risen up with the figures of the recent study conducted by AIIMS which says over 13% of the school going children in India have turned myopic, and the number has doubled in the last decade due to excess usage of electronic gadgets.

Early detection and timely intervention are effective in controlling development and progression of Myopia. Children’s screen time should be restricted and they should be encouraged to play outdoors than playing with smartphones.

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