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1st April 2015, 10:39 AM | #1 |
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Smartphone/tablet ruining my eyes?
I am experiencing a decline in my vision, and I suspect it is caused by my addiction to reading on mobile devices.
I already wear glasses. With plus lenses. OVer the last year I have started to notice a sharp decline in my ability to read small print. I also seem to need more light than I used to. Also, reading on my smartphone (and I do that a LOT) seems to get more difficult. What could be the cause? The light or the small print? If it is the small print, I migt be able to halt further damage by using a tablet and enlarging the text more. If it is the light, I am toast. I am an incurable information junkie, so I hope my interests are not doing damage to my eyesight. |
1st April 2015, 10:43 AM | #2 |
Lackey
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Age and/or disease?
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“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago |
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1st April 2015, 10:53 AM | #3 |
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I am 44.
I'll add that I going to get my eyes tested soon. But I am curious if the mobile devices could reasonably be a factor. |
1st April 2015, 11:00 AM | #4 |
Critical Thinker
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too much
April 1st , isn't it |
1st April 2015, 11:04 AM | #5 |
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1st April 2015, 11:16 AM | #6 |
Unsaviory
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Don't read this. It's bad for your eyes.
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1st April 2015, 11:24 AM | #7 |
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1st April 2015, 11:32 AM | #8 |
Muse
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Yep, welcome to the 40-somthing club.
Time for readers/bi-focals. |
1st April 2015, 11:45 AM | #9 |
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Gunter Haas, the 'leading British expert,' was a graphologist who advised couples, based on their handwriting characteristics, if they were compatible for marriage. I would submit that couples idiotic enough to do this are probably quite suitable for each other. It's nice when stupid people find love. - Ludovic Kennedy |
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1st April 2015, 11:50 AM | #10 |
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E Ink display products, and get task-specific glasses
If not disease related, then:
Likely presbyopia as other Forum members have pointed out. Eyes change over time, especially after 40 years-of age (first notable decline) The shape, and firmness of the eye changes, so your vision will change. Also you may notice your night vision getting worse. Bi-focals, or progressive lenses could help. Might need task-specific correct lenses (glasses) I might suggest if you read, try a Kindle or some other device with E Ink Pearl, e-paper technology. It's monochrome, gray scale, not color, but can reduce glare to make reading easier. Higher contrast for reading text, perhaps easier on eyes too because it's not backlit like LCD screens. |
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1st April 2015, 12:18 PM | #11 |
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Needing more light may also mean you should be checked for cataracts, especially if you have problems with glare or halos around light sources.
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1st April 2015, 12:25 PM | #12 |
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Get task-specific (reading) glasses
Hi Eddie Dane, I'd suggest getting task-specific, "reading" glasses.
When you go to the eye doctor for your vision check, let him/her know about your reading issue. If you're going to get a prescription for glasses, you may strongly want to consider getting a pair just for reading. Tell the person doing eye exam the distance from front of your eye to the reading surface. Example, (before going to eye doctor) measure the distance from your eyes to your smart phone or tablet. Maybe that distance is around 20" -- tell the eye doctor that's how far your reading screen is from your eyes. They can give you an eyeglass prescription specifically for that distance range. You might be able to get an inexpensive pair of 'magnifying' reading glasses in a drugstore. Get single-vision 'reading' glasses Reason: You will get a larger (up-and-down) field of view with a single vision lens than you would bi-focal or progressive lenses so you won't have to move your head around to find an in-focus sweet spot. And don't worry- it's not your smart phone or tablet causing your eyesight to go 'bad.' Just the inevitable aging process. |
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paranormalstateillustrated.com Taking a close look at what you see and hear on a "Real Life. Drama." TV series. |
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1st April 2015, 12:30 PM | #13 |
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Two different prescription glasses
You may need to have an additional pair of prescription glasses for everyday getting around.
But one prescription pair of glasses for reading, another prescription pair for more distance use. |
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paranormalstateillustrated.com Taking a close look at what you see and hear on a "Real Life. Drama." TV series. |
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1st April 2015, 12:33 PM | #14 |
Penultimate Amazing
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I have one nearsighted eye and one only slightly so. I wore single vision glasses until I lost the ability to focus close with age. Now I have single vision glasses (distant focus) that I use for driving. I have a pair of bifocals that I use for fishing (I need to focus close to tie on flies and lures, but distant when actually fishing). For nearly everything else, I go without glasses.
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1st April 2015, 12:41 PM | #15 |
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Thanks everybody!
It's a relief actually. I get most of my information from reading on mobile devices. Glad to hear it's probably normal. How does this condition combine with contact lenses? |
1st April 2015, 12:49 PM | #16 |
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.Bertrand Russell Zooterkin is correct Darat Nerd! Hokulele Join the JREF Folders ! Team 13232 Ezekiel 23:20 |
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1st April 2015, 03:28 PM | #17 |
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Since I stare at a computer screen all day, what I do is get non-toric lenses that are undercorrected (for nearsightedness) so that focusing at 2 feet is comfortable. That's also fine for most daily activities. Then I have glasses that provide full correction when used over the contacts, mainly for driving, and a cheap pair of reading glasses for reading fine print, though more often than not I use my cell phone for that.
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1st April 2015, 04:27 PM | #18 |
Penultimate Amazing
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It's certainly worth an eye exam to be sure, but another effect of aging eyes is that the pupils simply don't open as far.
We had a spectacularly clear night a couple of weeks ago while my niece was visiting so I dragged the telescope out. She almost immediately said "Oh, the Seven Sisters!" (Pleiades) I could barely see them without binoculars, but they were bright for her. |
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1st April 2015, 09:04 PM | #19 |
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It's nothing to worry about unless you find yourself really squinting to read things. If things seem to be getting smaller and/or dimmer you undoubtedly have eyeball cancer.
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. - John Muir |
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1st April 2015, 11:18 PM | #20 |
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.Bertrand Russell Zooterkin is correct Darat Nerd! Hokulele Join the JREF Folders ! Team 13232 Ezekiel 23:20 |
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2nd April 2015, 01:50 AM | #21 |
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2nd April 2015, 02:04 AM | #22 |
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Try threading a needle!
I am in the unhappy position of needing glasses to see things like medicine bottles or needles that need threading (less likely, admittedly), but my reading eyesight apparently isn't poor enough to justify glasses. I too am in the over 40 club. |
2nd April 2015, 06:10 AM | #23 |
Penultimate Amazing
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I use my phone to take a picture of the small print and then zoom in....
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Gunter Haas, the 'leading British expert,' was a graphologist who advised couples, based on their handwriting characteristics, if they were compatible for marriage. I would submit that couples idiotic enough to do this are probably quite suitable for each other. It's nice when stupid people find love. - Ludovic Kennedy |
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2nd April 2015, 06:28 AM | #24 |
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I take with a grain of salt the common wisdom that so many things are bad for your eyes.
Seeing in tough conditions, all kinds of light, near and far away, it's what eyes do. Looking at the sun won't hurt your eyes unless you're forced to stare at it. Low light level reading, won't hurt you. Looking at a monitor won't hurt you. Looking at the night sky all night at tiny stars won't hurt you. I'd guess it's just natural eye deterioration. |
2nd April 2015, 06:28 AM | #25 |
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2nd April 2015, 06:34 AM | #26 |
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Don't think 44 means you can't get old people problems.
I just saw the eye doc yesterday about my left eye rapidly (span of about a year) getting worse. Turns out I have a cataract beginning to form in there. I'm only 37 years young! Granted, I did go on Prednisone (a steroid) regularly for a decade while I combated regular flare-ups from my Ulcerative Colitis (now controlled by diet and an immune-suppressant). That was a possible cause of the cataract. But still. I've experienced Shingles and now a cataract at my age. |
2nd April 2015, 07:05 AM | #27 |
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Gunter Haas, the 'leading British expert,' was a graphologist who advised couples, based on their handwriting characteristics, if they were compatible for marriage. I would submit that couples idiotic enough to do this are probably quite suitable for each other. It's nice when stupid people find love. - Ludovic Kennedy |
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2nd April 2015, 07:08 AM | #28 |
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2nd April 2015, 07:36 AM | #29 |
Muse
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I'm 53 and for the last ten years or so have worn contacts - previously I wore specs. When swapped to contacts, I then found that I had to use reading glasses as I couldn't do my normal trick of taking the specs off to read. It is a sign of *ahem* "maturing" - which I've been getting used to for the past 15 years or so.
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2nd April 2015, 09:09 AM | #30 |
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2nd April 2015, 09:26 AM | #31 |
Confusion Reactor
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Woke up with a horrible backache, which I never get, and noticed a rash on my right side, thought, "Probably not a coincidence".
Was working as a dishwasher at the time, racking piping hot dishware all day. It really, really hurt. As far as saving my eyes, I'm going to start running a tablet/notebook into a big screen teevee. That should take care of the squints. |
2nd April 2015, 09:44 AM | #32 |
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2nd April 2015, 09:47 AM | #33 |
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2nd April 2015, 10:37 AM | #34 |
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I was in the very same position, and I also read all the time on my devices. As others have said it's probably an age thing. At the age of 45, in September of last year, I became a member of the glasses club. If the membership fee wasn't so damned expensive I'd happily smash my goggles. I hate them. I have varifocals and, to make matters worse, the right lens is stronger than the left. Took me several months to relearn how to see things. It's a very unnatural thing to tell your brain to move your head rather than your eyeballs. Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, "40's" seems to be when all your bits and pieces stick two fingers up at you and taunt you with their impending doom. Despite my fear of eyeballs, yes I did just say that, I reluctantly went to the opticians because as time goes on they get slowly worse. Ignoring my experience, get them tested. You will have the joy of choosing two sets of frames from hundreds without saying, "but I can't see". |
2nd April 2015, 11:08 AM | #35 |
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Does it ever reoccur for some? I've not heard of anyone getting it twice. Please please please say no. I'm in the middle of moving into a new home, have a 5 month old baby girl, and a job that has me running at 100% speed. Stress is about all I live off of right now, lol.
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2nd April 2015, 11:13 AM | #36 |
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2nd April 2015, 11:30 AM | #37 |
Lackey
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“If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago |
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2nd April 2015, 12:25 PM | #38 |
Thinker
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48 here, and i started noticing a palpable decline in my nearsighted vision over the last 2 years. I used to wear my glasses even for reading, now I pretty much always take them off, and it's gotten to where even THAT doesn't help with fine print or small work.
I was pretty worried, and began speculating wildly. Too much blue light from my new LED monitors? The (since replaced) Fluorescent fixture in my office that bleached colored paper? Something sinister like Fukushima radiation? (yes, I know ) Finally got in for an eye exam and new glasses. My farsight prescription hadn't changed much, and the rather thorough exam showed no apparent unusual pathology. She said it was a little soon for reading glasses, but had the same matter-of-fact attitude about it as this thread. |
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2nd April 2015, 12:30 PM | #39 |
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I have bad nearsightedness. Without my glasses I can still read small print.
With them, I have to drag my glasses down my nose, which does the equivalent of giving me bifocals or reading glasses. So far so good. I have a lifetime of reading without my glasses on. I do find myself using the phone screen with one eye, sometimes, in the middle of the night because bringing the other eye into it is a chore when tired. |
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"Great innovations should not be forced [by way of] slender majorities." - Thomas Jefferson The government should nationalize it! Socialized, single-payer video game development and sales now! More, cheaper, better games, right? Right? |
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2nd April 2015, 12:34 PM | #40 |
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