Children's nearsightedness is increasing at rates never before observed. A small issue in the past, it has reached epidemic proportions globally. More and more children are now requiring glasses earlier in life, and the incidences of nearsightedness are higher than ever before compared to earlier generations. Parents, teachers, and physicians are recognizing this, yet the question persists -Why?
The Digital Era and Its Consequences
Screws have become a reality of childhood inevitability. For internet studies, fun, or socialization, children are glued to digital screens for hours. Unlike previous generations where playing outdoors was the vogue, contemporary childhood includes tablets, mobile phones, and PCs. Research indicates that overexposure to screens places undue strain on young eyes, resulting in premature myopia. Blue light from such gadgets also aids in improving the condition by interfering with the usual development of eyes.
Lack of Outdoor Exposure
Outdoor exposure is crucial in maintaining healthy eyes. The sun assists in stimulating and controlling eye development and lessens the chances of the speeding up of myopia. Lifestyle today is far from what it used to be, though. Rising school pressures, apprehension of the outside world, and in-home entertainment features have destroyed outdoor activities substantially. The outcome is that children's eyes are denied natural exposure needed to enable adequate eye development. Specialists feel that kids who get at least two hours of day-time outdoor time have lesser chances of acquiring myopia than their indoor-entombed peers.
Certainly they could trust that those in power ultimately had the best interests of the people in mind, right?
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Luna slouched low in her seat, staring at droplets of water that ran diagonally down the window of the bus. The sky was a flat, depressing grey and the incessant, soaking rain left her constantly chilled. It was a typical "liquid sunshine" day in the Pacific Northwest.
They drove past a single tall scraggly tree on top of a hill shrouded in mist. The creepy tree was full of screaming crows. How could she hear them from inside the bus when she couldn't even seem to hear the voices of the kids around her? Geez, that was an awfully freaking dark image. She shivered and looked away. What did they call a group of crows again? Right, a murder of crows. Perfect.
The weather was certainly the only thing that was typical these days, although you'd never know it by looking around the bus at most of the kids as they sat joking and gossiping with each other just like they had before... before that day everything had changed. Idiots.