EY Y03 L15 Eyesight

How much time do you spend each week looking at screens? Tell us about how and when you use personal computers, tablets and smartphones.
Who in your immediate family wears glasses? What do they wear them for?
Do you wear glasses or contact lenses? If yes, what do you wear them for? How old were you when you started needing them? How much does it impact your daily life? If no, how good is your eyesight?
Do you ever wear sunglasses or do you consider them too garish and feel too self-conscious?
Glasses these days can be fashionable and consumers are willing to pay significant amounts of money on them. Eye surgery or contact lenses, equally, can be very expensive. How and where do you or would you buy glasses, contact lenses or eyewear? Does wearing glasses suit you? Why do you think that?
These days, 90% of Asian schoolchildren are nearsighted. This includes children in Japan. Is this simply due to the explosion in the use of tablets and smartphones?

Question 1

I spend roughly 5 hours each day looking at my phone and computer screens. That means that I spend around 35 hours every week digitally. I use my personal computer mostly on the train while commuting to work. I also use it at work to get some materials done. As for my smartphone, I have limited my use to a maximum of 2 hours per day. Having a good digital balance is very important!

Question 2

My mother wears glasses. She has 2 main glasses, one that has progressive lenses and the other one specifically cuts blue light. She thinks that they're quite fashionable!

Question 3

I don't wear glasses as there's nothing wrong with my eyes. My ophthalmologist told me that I can see objects and letters that are considered unseeable for most people with 20/20 eyes. I also realized that I can see in darker places better than my friends when we went on a camping trip.

Question 4

I only wear sunglasses when the sun is glaring. It affects my vision and mood so I wear sunglasses that somewhat changes my perception and mood.

Question 5

I usually buy sunglasses at Ray-Ban or Gucci. Different from clothing, I always try them on to see how they feel on my face and if they look good. I've been told that the types of sunglasses that suit me best are aviators and wayfarers.

Question 6

The study of epigenetics proves that while genes play an important role in determining our vision (and everything else that has to do with our body), lifestyle choices play a much bigger role. I'm inclined to believe that one of the driving factors in nearsightedness is the extensive use of smartphones and tablets. However, positions when reading and other environmental factors such as lighting conditions also play a role in determining how your eyes will be in 10-20 years.