Quick, who forgot to blink?

January 14, 2021

Today’s average adult consumes five times the amount of information daily than adults did fifty years ago. How are we able to take in so much information in such a small amount of time?

According to the New York Times, up to four hours of an adult’s day are spent looking at TV screens, almost five hours staring at laptops, three hours using gaming devices, and more than four hours on smartphones.

With all of this screen usage, we have to consider the consequences that come from having our eyes glued to these devices.

Digital screens strain the eyes much more than reading print material, mainly because people tend to blink less while focused on screens. Concentrating the eyes on a computer screen or other digital displays reduces a person’s blink rate by a third to a half, which tends to dry out the eyes (according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology).

Let’s take a look at the common case of a person working remotely through their laptop. The person will look approximately 30,000 times at their screen, keyboard, and documents. In that time, this tech savvy individual will blink about seven times per minute, compared to the average of 10-12 blinks from someone who encounters less screen time.

“This decrease in blinking reduces the amount of tear film and causes visual discomfort” (Ocular Health Section). When tears become too scarce, the person will experience dry eye symptoms which can cause a stinging sensation in the eyes.
So, is your screen time causing you dry eye symptoms? Take EyecareLive’s simple, free dry eye quiz to find out now. Click here.

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Ukti Vora

Director of Clinical Affairs at Eyecarelive, Inc

Ukti Vora is the Director of Clinical Affairs for EyecareLive. She is actively involved in defining strategy, planing and executing various services to build a robust telehealth platform focusing on the needs of the eye care professionals. As an optometrist with 11+ years of clinical experience, and her degree in Management she serves a perfect liaison between the company and the consumer. She brings a unique blend of diversity with her experience in India and USA. She has been a speaker at several national and international conferences, panel discussions, podcasts and online webinars.