Screens are NOT the reason kids need glasses 👀

To be able to see things clearly, your eyeballs need to be a certain shape. Today, though, around half of the world’s kids have eyeballs that are too long - and as a result, they have blurry vision.

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Lens: A transparent biconvex structure in the eye that can change its shape to change the focal distance.
- Retina: A layer at the back of the eyeball containing cells that are sensitive to light.
- Fovea: A small depression in the retina where visual acuity is highest.
- Myopia: A common vision condition in which distant objects are blurry.
- Hyperopia: A vision condition in which nearer objects are blurry.
- Emmetropization: The process by which the eye grows in order to maximize visual acuity.
- Dopamine: A neurotransmitter in the retina that tells the eyeball to stop growing once it has gotten to the ideal length.
- Near Work Hypothesis: The theory that the modern myopia epidemic was a result of humans spending more time looking at nearby objects.

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CREDITS
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David Goldenberg | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

OUR STAFF
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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Arcadi Garcia i Rius
David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes • Alex Reich
Henry Reich • Peter Reich • Ever Salazar
Alexander Vidal • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

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REFERENCES
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Klaver CCW, Polling JR, Enthoven CA. (2021) 2020 as the Year of Quarantine Myopia. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2021;139(3):300–301. Retrieved from: doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2020.6231

[maxpower]

Oh dang, this is a perfect example of correlation ≠ causation. People who look at screens more inadvertently stay inside more. But looking at screens by itself doesn't cause nearsightedness

[AbiSaysThings]

It's kind of crazy how overlooked (no pun intended) this problem is just because it's so easily fixable. Half the time I forget just how bad my vision is but had I lived before corrective lenses I would be markedly disabled.

[Nagy_drums]

I wish I can show this video to every single patient with kids. Like I should just make it mandatory in my office lol. It's a great way to explain nearsightedness quickly with both audio/visuals.

[wesbesttreacts]

Ngl it was always obvious to me that digital screens weren’t the culprit when it came to making people blind because growing up I noticed people that spend a lot of time reading books also tended to need glasses. I always assumed it had to do with eye strain though but thanks to this video now I know that’s not the case and it has to do with lack of sunlight exposure, which makes perfect sense because people that spend a lot of time reading books also don’t tend to be the outdoorsy type

[hanbeitakenakasama]

"Don't read in the dark, it makes your eyes blurry."

My grandmother would always say this to me when I was a kid. Turns out she was right all along.

[FierceDIO]

How to tell someone to touch grass without being rude.

[Meerkat]

I was lectured multiple times by school nurse and optometrists that it was screens. I was constantly telling them that it doesn't make sense because I have family members spending way more screen time with 20/20 vision and could it perhaps have something to do with one side of my family all needing glasses around puberty for generations?

They kept telling me it was the screens. Until my eyes suddenly stabilized at a point, and they noticed small signs of astigmatism (also genetic). I start getting asked if anyone in my family needed glasses at a young age and also have astigmatism, yes, over 20 of them. OHHHH, now the reason I need glasses isn't screens at all :/

[pokegamer]

He: we need to see more light
Me: starts staring at sun

[notyrpapa]

I’ve been telling my 7 year old this for years as an excuse to drag him out on walks every week. Useful to get an update on the new science behind it and find out it’s to do with light, though, not enclosed spaces as I was taught at uni.

[awakenedcrowl]

My parents were always like "Don't look at screens so much, or you'll need glasses!"
Now I'm 22, still looking at screens a lot, and I am the only one in my family who doesn't need glasses. According to my last eye test, I even still have above-average eye sight in terms of how well I did on that test.
UPDATE: 24 now and still the same. Funnily enough, many people here are expecting I'd eventually become near sighted. But if anything, it's rather the near vision that gets SLIGHTLY blurry if I really push it

[Sajgoniarz]

I actually expected something else to come out from this video, because about link between the light exposure and eyeball growing i read in multiple studies few years ago. I immediately knew the reason seem valid for me, since i start to spend a lot of time indoor at age of 11 and it was not long after when i noticed issues with sight.

[Boingo]

*goes outside to watch videos*
Mosquitoes: HELL YEA WE HAVE A FULL COURSE MEAL TODAY

[tadstoolll]

I need glasses because of my nearsightedness (I can’t see far away) and some of my family members said things like ‘it’s because of those screens isn’t it?’ It isn’t. I went to the optometrist and I found out I have astigmatism. It was genetically given to me by some of the same family members who told me it was screens.

[ETBrooD]

I keep saying it, children are spending way too much time in school instead of playing outside. Like 75% too much time. I've not yet heard a compelling argument to the contrary. And the research on eyesight only adds to the growing list of problems.

[aboycalledjohn]

This video is doing the work of the vision care industry for it (shifting attention away from the effects of the minus lens). Great job.

[Sombody]

Video: Touch grass.
Me: I need to buy a brighter lamp... 🤔

[ED-qten]

Optometry student here, I just recently covered this topic. There are a few inaccuracies but overall this video is a decent simplification. Namely, the chemical signals regulating emmitropization (eye lengthening to match the focal point of the eye’s optics) are intrinsic to the eye and not from the brain. We know this because even when all nerves are cut off to off from the eye, emmetropization still happens. Light levels do have an impact on this though! Winter months see the highest rates of worsening myopia, because people are inside still.

[MalcolmCooks]

"just go outside" is a little hard when kids are cooped up in school for 7 hours a day with only a few short breaks to play outside. Especially in more northerly countries like the UK, where daylight hours during the winter are very restricted. You can often only get a couple of hours or less of daylight outside of school hours

[xrzhcdz]

Few days back I watched a 20 minute long video explaining the very things showed in this 2 minute video.
Great work.

[yeetuszilla]

Reasons I don't go outside 90% of the time:
1. It's always hot/raining
2. There's nothing to do
3. If my parents need me to do something, I won't be there (my sister has a social life, and does way less minor requests since she's busy)
4. I deserve way worse than just lack of sunlight, so it's a start