L J Ravi Taking utmost care of your eyes is essential as they are the most delicate and important organs of the body. But the rising menace of electronic gadgets in personal and office life is turning everyone into gadget addicts. It is important to know that gadgets do not emit any harmful rays or radiations (monochrome or color), The causes of the trouble are constantly gazing at a near distance and decreased rate of blinking. “Kids nowadays are highly susceptible to digital eye strain, and hence it is the duty of the parents at utmost priority to ensure keeping them away from being addicted to digital screens. It is almost impractical to separate children and technology, be it for educational purposes, or fun time, staring at digital devices like smartphones, tablets, LED screens and computers are trending. Kids may feel eye fatigue, pain in the eyes, loss of concentration, disturb sleep, headaches, forehead pains, irritability in the eye. It may aggravate myopia in pre-disposed children. Childhood blindness is one of the priority targets of Vision 2020—Right To Sight due to its impact on the psychological and social growth of the child. Global estimates on childhood blindness show that there are around 1.42 million and 17.52 million children suffering from blindness and moderate to severe visual impairment, respectively. It has been observed that unlike adult blindness that is 80% avoidable (either preventable or treatable), in children, less than 50% of the causes are avoidable. One unique aspect of how children use computers may make them more susceptible than adults to the development of vision problems. Because of the limited degree of self-awareness of children, most of them keep performing an enjoyable task (e.g. playing video games) with great concentration, for many hours, until exhaustion, with few, if any, breaks, leading to accommodative problems and eye irritation.
