Everyday, teenagers look at their phones, televisions, and other screens. The constant pressure placed on the eyes is leading to overall worsening vision, and it’s starting at very young ages. The number of young people wearing glasses or contacts is at an all time high; over 50% of 6-17 year olds need assistance in sight.
Many people suggest reduced screen time as a solution to this problem, yet the increase and widespread use of technology makes it almost impossible. People are incorporating eye-damaging technology into more and more aspects of life.
Eye-damaging technology plays a huge role in education. Teachers project lesson plans that students stare at for the majority of the class. At Leesville, students use their teachers class sets of laptops. We have rooms and areas dedicated to computer use. Textbooks have been abandoned and replaced with online resources. When students aren’t doing school work during the day, they are usually looking at their phone.
After school, teenagers go home and scroll through social media, catch up on their favorite Netflix shows, complete online schoolwork, and many other screen time activities. With barely any breaks from technology, it is no surprise that teenagers eyes are getting worse.
A survey of Leesville students shows that 48% of young adults wear glasses or contacts. The most common age range of people getting glasses was 8-14; they are getting glasses at extremely young ages.
Having bad eyesight can have a negative impact on grades. If a student can’t see the bored, they will be unable to absorb the information needed and will give up on putting in effort in their classes. Getting glasses and maintaining them can also be costly; some people can’t afford it.
With eyesight getting worse as we age, bad eyesight starting young will only get worse over \time. The only way to prevent the worsening of vision is to make people more aware of the impacts screens have on the eyes.
Hi! My name is Lyric and I am a senior editor and the website editor for The Mycenaean. I am also Vice President of Quill and Scroll Society, Makeup Crew Head, and a member of National English Honor Society.