The Dangers of Excessive Screen Time
Kids have been experiencing at-home learning for the last couple of months. Maybe your kiddos have spent more time on digital devices than they would have if they had been in the traditional classroom setting.
Now, school is out. The kids want to enjoy themselves again. Hopefully, they are spending more time outdoors and enjoying playtime and nature. However, these days, kids are spending more and more time on digital devices. Download a Parent’s Guide to Screen Time here.
Kids are spending time on their computers and iPads because they are using these devices for socializing, learning, and recreation. Communication apps like FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp, and Zoom have become more popular. And, many video games are multi-player interactive. Kids are playing games with their friends down the street, in the next town, or even across the world.
It is wonderful that we've had so many advances in technology. Especially during this time of the COVID-19 shut down when so many of us were under stay at home orders. When the schools closing their doors, it was amazing how rapidly everyone was able to shift to an online platform that enabled at-home learning.
Now that school is over, the use of digital devices is not likely to decrease for your child. In fact, I had one concerned grandparent in the office last week telling me about a new habit her grandchild had picked up during the stay at home order. Her preteen grandchild was staying up until 4:00 AM playing online video games with friends. Then the kids will sleep halfway through the day and start it all over again the next afternoon.
I was concerned about this new trend for kids for several reasons. So, I decided to write this blog about it and explain my concerns to as many parents and grandparents as I can.
Risks of Prolonged Digital Device Use on the Eyes
Prolonged use of digital devices has three significant risks for the eyes:
- Development of Dry Eye Symptoms
- Digital Eye Strain
- Sleep Disruption
Development of Dry Eye Symptoms
The risk of developing dry eye symptoms comes from long-term use. I recently wrote a blog about the importance of blinking while using digital devices. You can check out the blog here. I go over the reasons you need to take breaks to blink while using digital devices. The blinking action helps to prevent atrophy of our oil glands which can lead to devastating dry eye disease down the road. Check out the blog here.
Digital Eye Strain
Any activity which involves up close work like reading, sewing, soldering, working on a computer, or gaming requires the muscles inside the eyes to actively engage. Prolonged use of these muscles can cause eye strain, no matter your age. I reviewed 7 Ways to Alleviate Digital Eye Strain here. This blog came complete with a Digital Eye Strain Relief guide you can get here.
In children, prolonged near work can have an additional consequence. Under the age of about 22, the risk of increasing nearsightedness, or myopia, is significant. The muscles of the body want to make their work easier for themselves. So, when kids do lots of near work, the eye will grow longer / become more near-sighted, to compensate for the strain on the visual system. I will dive deeper into this topic in next week’s blog.
Sleep Disruption
The danger of extended digital device use, which is most alarming to me is sleep disruption. The reason the children my patient was telling me about were able to stay up through the night to play their video games was not because of the excitement of the game. Instead, they were able to stay awake through the night because of the blue light emitted from the electronic devices.
The blue light stimulates hormones in the body that generate a feeling of alertness. This spectrum of light is emitted from digital devices such as televisions, laptops, cell phones, computer monitors, and tablets. All these devices will cause a release of the hormone serotonin.
Circadian Rhythm
Blue light plays an important role in setting our circadian rhythm. The sun emits blue light. It is important for our bodies to receive blue light in the morning. The blue light stimulates the release of serotonin and begins the circadian rhythm cycle to let the body know it is time to be awake and alert.
As the sun goes down in the evening, the shutdown of the stimulus, tells the brain to begin to release melatonin instead of serotonin. Melatonin is a hormone that helps the body fall asleep and to stay asleep longer.
When you use your digital devices at night your brain continues to release serotonin. So, your body does not feel as tired. In addition, melatonin is not being released as the sun is setting. Without sufficient melatonin in your body, you do not fall asleep on time or stay asleep long enough.
Long-term effects of shifting Circadian Rhythms
Have you ever flown through multiple time zones in one day, or flown far enough to switch your days and nights completely? Think about the last time you had jet lag. Do you remember that fuzzy feeling in your head, not being able to think straight and trouble to remember things?
When the body’s natural circadian rhythms are thrown off the consequences can result in weight gain, impulsivity, slower thinking, and other physiological and behavioral changes. Fatigue results in poor concentration and a longer time to complete tasks. Over the long term, there can be increased irritability and depression.
Studies have been done on groups of people who do shift work or work nights. These folks were at a much higher risk of developing diabetes because of the effects on their blood sugar levels just from changing their sleep/wake cycles.
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Shift work has long been linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, with weight gain and poor sleep quality among the outcomes of shift work which can encourage unhealthy habits such as eating at irregular hours and getting less exercise. Shift workers are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes regardless of their genetic risk, according to new research.
Another study showed an increase in both high blood pressure and heart attack with working the night shift. It states that even just one overnight shift could increase blood pressure and affect heart rate. And, night shift workers have a 41% increase risk of heart attack compared to day time workers.
Download a Parent’s Guide to Screen Time to get the tools you need to help your kids have fun with their devices safely.
What can be done?
Set an electronics curfew. As the sun goes down, electronics should go off. The best answer would be to turn off any electronic devices one to two hours before bedtime. If that is not possible, use these workarounds to help.
Install an app. Changing the color emitted by your monitor will lower the amount of blue light emitted. This will reduce eye strain and help regulate your circadian rhythms. Download an app that will automatically adjust your screen to the time of day for you.
Try blue light blocking glasses. These glasses can cut the amount of blue light that reaches your eyes. The light can be filtered into percentages.
Find a list of apps to regulate your different screens: computer, cell phone, tablet, and kid-sized blue-blocking glasses by downloading a Parent's Guide to Screen Time.
Conclusion
There are three significant problems that excessive digital device use causes for our eyes and bodies. Eye strain may be the most prevalent with its effects being the most immediate. But, there are long term effects of excessive screen time which cause atrophy to the oil glands in the eyes and result in devastating dry eye. However, the most systemically problematic issue with screen time is the emittance of blue light which changes the body’s circadian rhythms.
Changes in the normal circadian rhythm can be devastating to the body. Increases in weight gain, high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression have been scientifically documented. As well, changes in mood and difficulty concentrating can occur rather quickly after even just one night of altered sleep.
Use the Parent's Guide to Screen Time to get the apps to adjust the blue light emitted from your screens, try blue-blocking glasses to limit the amount of light reaching the eyes, and utilize an electronics curfew to ensure better health to your body and eyes.
You may be asking yourself why an eye doctor would care about the systemic problems of high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression. The truth is the body is interconnected. Problems with diabetes and high blood pressure show up in the blood vessels within the eyes before the problems reach other organs with larger blood vessels. Hypertensive and diabetic retinopathy can cause devastating vision loss. And, depression and sleep disruption increase symptoms of dry eyes as well.
The eyes truly are the window to your soul. Many systemic diseases can be seen inside the eyes even before a patient is even aware of it. What are your eyes telling the world? Get the Parent's Guide to Screen Time and ensure your child has a bright future.
