Over the last couple of years, the amount of texting has grown rapidly.
So much so, that teenagers are starting to suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome.
I, as an optometrist, am looking at the effects of texting on vision.
Everything I say about texting also applies to games that are hand held.
I recently had a ten year old boy who last year had 20/20 vision.
This year his vision deteriorated to 20/200 (he was able to achieve 20/20 vision with glasses).
There can be some genetics involved.
The father, however, stated that his son was constantly playing games with a hand held device.
This and texting for extended periods of time, to me, could have a significant effect on vision.
I've been practicing optometry for 29 years.
I've seen the visual effect that extensive looking at monitors has on vision.
Some people have no change in their vision.
Others, develop headaches and fatigue and notice their night vision first changing.
Then there are others who constantly note an increase in their prescription throughout the years.
To me, looking at hand held devices, can be more problematic as the image one is looking at is smaller and held closer than a monitor or normal printed hard copy.
It's interesting that this area of optometry has its roots back in the late 1920's.
Of course, as a society with increased technology, we're placing increased demands on our visual system.
It's my job to help my patients deal with this.