Digital Eye Strain | The Village Eye Care

Giving Your Eyes a Break

The digitized nature of daily life can be stressful for your eyes, and they deserve a break! Digital eye strain can affect your eyes due to long work periods or watching your favorite TV show.

At The Village Eye Care, we want to help you find some well-deserved relief. Contact us today to book an appointment and manage your digital eye strain symptoms.

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What Is Digital Eye Strain?

As you spend more time on computers, tablets, and smartphones, digital eye strain can affect your eyes. According to a survey conducted by The Vision Council in 2015, 59% of American adults report experiencing digital eye strain symptoms.

Digital eye strain symptoms may include:

Frequent headaches
Neck and shoulder pain
Tired eyes
Red eyes
Eyelid twitching
Blurry vision
Trouble focusing

If you encounter any of these symptoms, please contact us and ask our team about digital eye strain.

Managing Digital Eye Strain

Spending long hours using digital devices, either at work or at home, can likely cause digital eye strain. There are a few things you can do to assist in managing digital eye strain. These tips are accessible, and you can start practicing them today!

Take Frequent Breaks

Taking frequent breaks away from your computer or other digital devices is an excellent way to give your eyes a much-needed rest.

Every couple of hours, get up, stretch, and go for a short walk. Taking frequent breaks can help prevent neck, back, and shoulder pain.

Follow the 20/20/20 Rule

Sitting in front of your screen for long periods can strain your eyes and even dry out your eyes. Focusing your full attention on a task may cause you to forget to blink as often as usual.

The 20/20/20 rule states that every 20 minutes, you should take a 20-second break and look at something that is at least 20 feet away from you.

Digital eye strain is partially caused by prolonged near focus. By looking at something far away, your focusing muscles get an opportunity to relax. Try setting a timer while you work to remind yourself to take a short break.

Modify Your Workspace

A well-designed workspace can help prevent digital eye strain. Make sure your computer monitor or other digital screen is set to a comfortable level of brightness based on ambient lighting. To do this, you may want to consider turning off bright overhead lights and relying on natural light, desk lamps, and standing lamps.

You should also make sure that your workspace is set up to reduce the amount of strain you put on your neck and shoulders. Adjust your monitor so that the top third is at or slightly below eye level. This adjustment will place your screen between 10 and 15 degrees below your line of sight.

Glare is hard on your eyes, so you should reduce glare by positioning your monitor. You may also want to consider an anti-glare cover for your screen.

Consider Computer Glasses

If you spend prolonged periods of time on the computer, you may want to invest in a pair of computer glasses. Computer glasses limit the amount of harmful blue light that reaches your eyes and reduce glare, protecting your eyes.

Computer glasses are designed to ease the focusing and accommodative effort and can be made to incorporate any prescription.

If you think you may be experiencing digital eye strain, feel free to contact us today!