[Arthur] went to his lunchbox and put on his glasses. In gym, Arthur made ten baskets. Francine made four.
That afternoon Arthur didn’t need Francine to read the problems on the board.
from Arthur’s Eyes
written and illustrated by Marc Brown
Little, Brown, 1979
I didn’t start wearing glasses until I graduated from high school, but I needed them much earlier. Mom took us to regular checkups with our family doctor, but the “extra” stuff kinda mostly went by the wayside.
My glasses made a huge difference.
When I was growing up, I loved to read. The only way to read way back then was to hold a book and turn the pages. Now, I can read on my phone. It’s backlit so I don’t bother my husband or new kitten who might be trying to sleep next to me. I can enlarge the size of the font so it’s easier to see. I can load lots of books on my phone instead of packing them all. Makes traveling to visit my kids and grandkids much easier (and lighter).
Before I went away to college, I was diagnosed with myopia, nearsightedness. I could see things close up better than I could those things in the distance. When I was growing up, the medical community believed myopia and hyperopia (near and farsightedness) were both the result of genetics.
Not long ago, I heard a story on NPR that the World Health Organization (WHO) projects in just six years, 2030, almost one half of the world’s population will be nearsighted.
Here in the United States, in 1971, about 1 in 4 people were diagnosed with myopia. Forty-six years later, 2017, the rate was a little under one half, 42%, and many of those diagnoses are in children. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggests the rate of digital eyestrain, a cause of myopia, has already reached between 50 and 60% in kids.
Dr. Maria Liu, an associate professor of clinical optometry at The University of California, Berkeley, has been suggesting for about the last ten years that screen time can be a cause of nearsightedness, especially in children. Now, while still not mainstream, doctors like her are considering the real and long-lasting effects of all those hours in front of a screen. Whether for a ZOOM meeting, a class reading assignment, a solitaire game or ten, or researching and typing out a weekly blog, all that screen time really matters. And it matters most to kids.
New research from ophthalmologists shows that our eyes continue to change as we age. When we spend more time focusing on near objects, our eyeballs elongate to sharpen the clarity of those nearby objects (on screens, mostly). This elongation increases nearsightedness. Our eyes do not bend the incoming light as they should. It makes sense that spending lots of time doing close work might affect a person’s vision.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), digital eye strain is “characterized by dry eyes, itching, foreign body sensation, watering, blurring of vision, and headache.”
In the same NIH article, “Dr. Liu explained that the best way to protect children against early onset myopia is to limit screen time and get them playing outside as much as possible. ‘They need to play with real toys,’ Liu said. ‘They need to engage in real outdoor life.’”
While there is certainly no harm done to children by sending them outside, except of course, if danger is present or inclement weather conditions prevent a positive experience, a school of thought reported in the Review of Myopia Management by Prof. Caroline Klaver, suggests the 20-20-2 rule. After 20 minutes of close work, children should gaze at objects in the distance for at least 20 seconds, and they should be outside intermittently for at least 2 hours per day.
And while the 20-20-2 rule is especially helpful for children whose eyesight continues to develop until about age six, it is important for adults, too, whose eyesight is still malleable.
Marc Brown ends Arthur’s story with a short scene that includes Francine.
The next morning Arthur was very surprised when he saw Francine.
“They’re my movie star glasses,” said Francine.
“But there isn’t any glass in them,” said Arthur.
“It doesn’t matter. They help me concentrate and make me look beautiful,” said Francine.
I’m not sure there is a placebo effect regarding wearing glasses, but my optometrist assured me he can keep correcting my (slowly) progressing myopia with glasses. The hard part is finding the frames that will make me look beautiful.
When I found my lost book club list, I had to move George Floyd’s biography down a week. This week I’m reading The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb (Anchor Books, 2022). It’s a mystery whose main character, Ray, is an extremely talented young, black violinist. His rising star is stopped in its track when his priceless Stradivarius was stolen just before a crucial audition. Slocumb’s debut explores family relations, racism, and the importance of self-determination. Lyrical writing evokes Ray’s love of classical music. This one’s hard to put down.
-—Be curious! (and play outside)
That afternoon Arthur didn’t need Francine to read the problems on the board.
from Arthur’s Eyes
written and illustrated by Marc Brown
Little, Brown, 1979
I didn’t start wearing glasses until I graduated from high school, but I needed them much earlier. Mom took us to regular checkups with our family doctor, but the “extra” stuff kinda mostly went by the wayside.
My glasses made a huge difference.
When I was growing up, I loved to read. The only way to read way back then was to hold a book and turn the pages. Now, I can read on my phone. It’s backlit so I don’t bother my husband or new kitten who might be trying to sleep next to me. I can enlarge the size of the font so it’s easier to see. I can load lots of books on my phone instead of packing them all. Makes traveling to visit my kids and grandkids much easier (and lighter).
Before I went away to college, I was diagnosed with myopia, nearsightedness. I could see things close up better than I could those things in the distance. When I was growing up, the medical community believed myopia and hyperopia (near and farsightedness) were both the result of genetics.
Not long ago, I heard a story on NPR that the World Health Organization (WHO) projects in just six years, 2030, almost one half of the world’s population will be nearsighted.
Here in the United States, in 1971, about 1 in 4 people were diagnosed with myopia. Forty-six years later, 2017, the rate was a little under one half, 42%, and many of those diagnoses are in children. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) suggests the rate of digital eyestrain, a cause of myopia, has already reached between 50 and 60% in kids.
Dr. Maria Liu, an associate professor of clinical optometry at The University of California, Berkeley, has been suggesting for about the last ten years that screen time can be a cause of nearsightedness, especially in children. Now, while still not mainstream, doctors like her are considering the real and long-lasting effects of all those hours in front of a screen. Whether for a ZOOM meeting, a class reading assignment, a solitaire game or ten, or researching and typing out a weekly blog, all that screen time really matters. And it matters most to kids.
New research from ophthalmologists shows that our eyes continue to change as we age. When we spend more time focusing on near objects, our eyeballs elongate to sharpen the clarity of those nearby objects (on screens, mostly). This elongation increases nearsightedness. Our eyes do not bend the incoming light as they should. It makes sense that spending lots of time doing close work might affect a person’s vision.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), digital eye strain is “characterized by dry eyes, itching, foreign body sensation, watering, blurring of vision, and headache.”
In the same NIH article, “Dr. Liu explained that the best way to protect children against early onset myopia is to limit screen time and get them playing outside as much as possible. ‘They need to play with real toys,’ Liu said. ‘They need to engage in real outdoor life.’”
While there is certainly no harm done to children by sending them outside, except of course, if danger is present or inclement weather conditions prevent a positive experience, a school of thought reported in the Review of Myopia Management by Prof. Caroline Klaver, suggests the 20-20-2 rule. After 20 minutes of close work, children should gaze at objects in the distance for at least 20 seconds, and they should be outside intermittently for at least 2 hours per day.
And while the 20-20-2 rule is especially helpful for children whose eyesight continues to develop until about age six, it is important for adults, too, whose eyesight is still malleable.
Marc Brown ends Arthur’s story with a short scene that includes Francine.
The next morning Arthur was very surprised when he saw Francine.
“They’re my movie star glasses,” said Francine.
“But there isn’t any glass in them,” said Arthur.
“It doesn’t matter. They help me concentrate and make me look beautiful,” said Francine.
I’m not sure there is a placebo effect regarding wearing glasses, but my optometrist assured me he can keep correcting my (slowly) progressing myopia with glasses. The hard part is finding the frames that will make me look beautiful.
When I found my lost book club list, I had to move George Floyd’s biography down a week. This week I’m reading The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb (Anchor Books, 2022). It’s a mystery whose main character, Ray, is an extremely talented young, black violinist. His rising star is stopped in its track when his priceless Stradivarius was stolen just before a crucial audition. Slocumb’s debut explores family relations, racism, and the importance of self-determination. Lyrical writing evokes Ray’s love of classical music. This one’s hard to put down.
-—Be curious! (and play outside)
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