German study proves: Screen Time is bad for you eyes - and it’s worse than you thought

[RaiRai29]

Found on: https://www.giga.de/extra/forschung-und-wissenschaft/news/schlimmste-befuerchtung-wird-wahr-das-handy-zerstoert-unsere-augen-und-mehr/ (arcticle in German)

Original Source: https://www.sehen.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/seh-gesundheit-und-technik/digitales-sehen-fortschritt-mit-risiken-und-chancen/(press release in German) 

 

A german study released this month shows that looking at digital devices like smartphones, tablets and monitors is really bad for your eyes.

A growing screen time was measured for people of all ages. Experts say this leads to increasing numbers of people with related issues like  myopia, strabismus, eye stress symptoms and even other (neck, shoulders etc.) and psychological issues.

 

Even though some counter measures are know, they are not implemented or used in most cases?

 

What do you do to prevent health issues related to the digital lifestyle? Or do you think we will have to live with it?

[Guest]

Yes while this is correct I'm tired of hearing it. Books are bad for the eyes, headphones cause you to be deaf at the age of 30, etc etc.

 

Living is the most harmful thing for your body. Anything you do harms your body.

[mr moose]

Who would have thought holding your neck in one position for several hours would be bad, it's like RSI was not a thing before screens.

[asus killer]

10 minutes ago, RaiRai29 said:

 

What do you do to prevent health issues related to the digital lifestyle? Or do you think we will have to live with it?

a part from recreation use, a lot of people simply have to live with it, they work in front of a screen all day.

Move around, do exercises, good posture,... are all good remedies, some companies even hire consultants to help employees have good chair position, etc..

 

In recreational use, just don't abuse.

[mr moose]

2 minutes ago, Some Random Member said:

Yes while this is correct I'm tired of hearing it. Books are bad for the eyes, headphones cause you to be deaf at the age of 30, etc etc.

 

Living is the most harmful thing for your body. Anything you do harms your body.

I find the most frustrating part of these studies is not the actual study (because most of them qualify everything), but the reporting of them. They spend too much time saying "screens are bad mmmKay!" and less time telling us how they can be used without incurring the harm.

[Misanthrope]

2 minutes ago, asus killer said:

a part from recreation use, a lot of people simply have to live with it, they work in front of a screen all day.

Move around, do exercises, good posture,... are all good remedies, some companies even hire consultants to help employees have good chair position, etc..

 

In recreational use, just don't abuse.

That's kind of the issue.

 

Don't get me wrong what you describe is good health advise. Yet we're more and more reliant on technology for everything in hour lives most people with an average office job can't get away from a screen long enough: Ask them not to use a tablet or watch TV on their free time would be kind of unreasonable so much of our culture, our social life, etc. Revolves around screens.

 

I'm afraid the only realistic solution is to improve screen tech to be more friendly to our eyes.

[AlTech]

11 minutes ago, mr moose said:

I find the most frustrating part of these studies is not the actual study (because most of them qualify everything), but the reporting of them. They spend too much time saying "screens are bad mmmKay!" and less time telling us how they can be used without incurring the harm.

They can be used without incurring harm by:

• reducing the amount of blue light shown at night although people with glasses which have blue light filters already do this.
• using a color accurate display which accurately portrays colors as you would see them in real life (e.g. Red looks like red and not like Pink)
• using a somewhat high-resolution display so your eyes don't squint every time you try to read something (So basically stay away from anything less than 1080p and less than 100 PPI displays, for a laptop or tablet display people should aim for around 200 PPI)
• taking a break every 30 minutes from a screen, standing up and moving around (ideally every 20 minutes but people look at screens too much for that to be practical)

[RaiRai29]

I think it’s important to not only be told how technology works but also how to use it responsibly.

We all know that sitting al day is bad for your health and it’s better to stand up and walk around regularly and do sports in sour free time. Many people do that,

Also eyes are an important part of your body. So, why not do some exercises for your eye’s health, too.

And even when we don’t like to be bothered, I think it’s good to be reminded every no and then that we should take our health seriously and what to do about it. 

[K i a r a]

This is not really, OR should not be new news to anyone.

[RaiRai29]

10 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

They can be used without incurring harm by:

• reducing the amount of blue light shown at night although people with glasses which have blue light filters already do this.
• using a color accurate display which accurately portrays colors as you would see them in real life (e.g. Red looks like red and not like Pink)
• using a somewhat high-resolution display so your eyes don't squint every time you try to read something (So basically stay away from anything less than 1080p and less than 100 PPI displays, for a laptop or tablet display people should aim for around 200 PPI)
• taking a break every 30 minutes from a screen, standing up and moving around (ideally every 20 minutes but people look at screens too much for that to be practical)

In fact this study does gives some advice on how to improve the user’s situation.

All above tips are right and even more tips - especially for the eyes - are given in the study. Like

• Look at far distances (min. 20 meters) for at least 20 seconds every 20 minutes = 20-20-20 rule
• wear screen glases (with slight near support)
• optimize you work space ergonomically 

[Okjoek]

This sucks because this pretty much sums up my free time.

 

The best entertainment alternatives mostly involve needing another person with you which is hard. And that's not including shopping, finances, job scheduling, porn, all other research etc.

 

I mean if the Internet and computers just disappeared over night I would probably just shift more time into another existing hobby like gardening.

 

Maybe return to the days of trading card games like highschool and board games.

Badminton, ping-pong are probably the biggest sports our home could accommodate.

I would definitely get a gym membership if there's one within walking distance.

 

Maybe replace my minecraft time with Legos and Knex like when I was a kid.

 

Shift my tech hobby to other electronics like electric scooters or something maybe.

[yian88]

School is bad for your health, your back, eyes, poor circulation from too much sitting, in my country there is no food at school everyone ate and probably still eats w/e they can get from shops like coke and chips and processed shit, add all of them togheter and you end up with really sick young people by age of 30.

 

Instead of sports like gymnastics done without practice and proper training we should have fitness hours + gym + trainer in schools, sports are stupid not everyone is into that but everyone should be doing gym for a healthy life.

 

Because of school i had neck problems by age of 13, only got my first computer at 14 and then i started to sit even more at the computer + school 5-6 hours a day, now i have forward neck issue(or kyphosis). And due to the lack of medicine/knowledge and money never got it treated then, now i have to live with it, dont know any solution that can fix it, it also could be hereditary + siting a lot since all my friends who sat at computers + school had no issues, so yeah theres that.

 

 

[asus killer]

52 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

That's kind of the issue.

 

Don't get me wrong what you describe is good health advise. Yet we're more and more reliant on technology for everything in hour lives most people with an average office job can't get away from a screen long enough: Ask them not to use a tablet or watch TV on their free time would be kind of unreasonable so much of our culture, our social life, etc. Revolves around screens.

 

I'm afraid the only realistic solution is to improve screen tech to be more friendly to our eyes.

i agree with you. There's no magic solution. Like the OP said we are almost all trying to live with it the best we can. 

Still some problems may be mitigated a little with small fixes.

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, RaiRai29 said:

In fact this study does gives some advice on how to improve the user’s situation.

All above tips are right and even more tips - especially for the eyes - are given in the study. Like

• Look at far distances (min. 20 meters) for at least 20 seconds every 20 minutes = 20-20-20 rule
• wear screen glases (with slight near support)
• optimize you work space ergonomically 

The second one is IMO the most important one.

The third one should be obvious, obviously. Are there still people who don't do that stuff?
Also an ergonomical keyboard like an M$ Natural is highly encouraged!
 

I've used them for years (and yes, they did get worse every generation) but still are better for typing large text than normal keyboards. And I wished there were more of those. And they would bring back the original Design from 1997. That was the best. The Natural MM was somewhat OKis, the new 4000 one is rubbish.

[Doobeedoo]

Yeah well if a person stares down their phone with like broken neck position whole day, which many do, they will have problem later on. I don't do that, mainly on PC with proper posture. As for eyes, well some are unlucky and need glasses as a young kid without ever looking at screen. While some look at screens whole day for years and have great sight. Definitely need to make breaks. For eyes to rest from your monitor, which is close, good rest is to look at distance when you can, like when you're outside for example.

[DildorTheDecent]

That info graph looks pretty neat.

 

Shame it's in foreign.

[Zodiark1593]

2 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

They can be used without incurring harm by:

• reducing the amount of blue light shown at night although people with glasses which have blue light filters already do this.
•  

How wile I can see blue light being disruptive to circadian rythm, i have sincere doubts that the quantity produced by a display is genuinely harmful. By comparison, the sun produces far stronger blue light, as well as plenty of ultraviolet (the latter being actually harmful to things).

 

47 minutes ago, Stefan Payne said:

The second one is IMO the most important one.

The third one should be obvious, obviously. Are there still people who don't do that stuff?
Also an ergonomical keyboard like an M$ Natural is highly encouraged!
 

I've used them for years (and yes, they did get worse every generation) but still are better for typing large text than normal keyboards. And I wished there were more of those. And they would bring back the original Design from 1997. That was the best. The Natural MM was somewhat OKis, the new 4000 one is rubbish.

Ehh, my desk setup is pretty far from ergonomic. I have a giant Logitech G710+ keyboard I bought on sale for $40 taking up nearly all the available room on my desk. So the mouse is used on a very high sensitivity so as to actually use the pc with any degree of efficiency (I also use high/maximum sensitivity settings on work mice for productivity). My chair is just a plain table chair I bring in when I want to use the PC.

 

Probably the only thing done remotely right from an ergonomic standpoint would be the height of the desk and that of the display (a 32" 768P panel, mind you). The PC setups at work are also not even close to ergonomic, but to be fair, we'e seldom on the PC's here for hours on end.

[captain_to_fire]

2 hours ago, RaiRai29 said:

-snip-

I wish I could sift through the infographic but too bad I don't know German but judging from the infographic, it looks like bowing ones head to use a phone is bad for the spine.

[dizmo]

I wish this was in English. While I can get the gist of what they mean from the pictures, it actually looks like a fair bit of interesting information.

I agree it's something people need to think about, mostly with posture and taking breaks, but to outright call screen time simply bad is a little...wrong. One could say going outside is horrible for you, as over the years there's a lot more pollution. But what kind of life is that?

Besides those of us that live in our basement game rooms dungeons.

[Ryujin2003]

2 hours ago, mr moose said:

I find the most frustrating part of these studies is not the actual study (because most of them qualify everything), but the reporting of them. They spend too much time saying "screens are bad mmmKay!" and less time telling us how they can be used without incurring the harm.

My German is non existent, but who actually did the study? Was this "independent" it by an educational institution? I tried to look, but I didn't see much either way.

 

To me, that's the most important part. Why trust this source? They could be biased, uninformed, or anything else.

[AlTech]

1 hour ago, Zodiark1593 said:

How wile I can see blue light being disruptive to circadian rythm, i have sincere doubts that the quantity produced by a display is genuinely harmful. By comparison, the sun produces far stronger blue light, as well as plenty of ultraviolet (the latter being actually harmful to things).

1

It's only harmful if it affects your ability to sleep well.

[Sauron]

From what I can tell it seems the issue is not directly related to screen technology but rather to focusing on still, close objects for extended periods of time as well as placing unnatural strain on your neck and shoulders - all of which are not exclusive problems to screen time.

22 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I wish this was in English. While I can get the gist of what they mean from the pictures, it actually looks like a fair bit of interesting information.

As far as I can tell through my mediocre German, most of it is just a list of statistics; the real conclusion about health can be found on the source website but it seems to be common sense - straining your eyes can damage your eyesight, screens don't seem any worse in that regard than books, magazines, precision work and so on. The only difference is that a screen may be more enticing and push you into staring for longer. A good sitting posture at a reasonable distance from the screen and regular breaks should be enough to fend off most of these problems.

[suicidalfranco]

And what do they want me to do about it?

It's my job to stay in front of a monitor, in the same position, 8 hours per day, 5 days per week.

 

[Christophe Corazza]

Fortunately, I do not feel the need to watch my smartphone for hours. Only when I really do something with it, I look at the device.

There are so many other things to look at, in real life.

[Trik'Stari]

5 hours ago, Some Random Member said:

Yes while this is correct I'm tired of hearing it. Books are bad for the eyes, headphones cause you to be deaf at the age of 30, etc etc.

 

Living is the most harmful thing for your body. Anything you do harms your body.