From cell phones and computers to television and tablets, our days are filled with screens. All those screens we look at - from video games and movies to checking emails - can cause eye strain. But there are ways to reduce the strain our eyes go through when we look at computers.
Dr. Travis Taylor, an optometrist at South Charleston Eye Care, said the extent of eye strain can be reduced by the position of our computer screens.
"You want to sit the monitor back as far as you can," Taylor said. "The closer it is the harder the eyes have to work."
Some people whose jobs require them to stare at computer screens all day may want to consider having a second pair of special glasses only for computer screens, he said. The lenses in these glasses are designed to focus on screens, he said.
Another tip is that after every 20 minutes or so of looking at a screen, look at something else for a couple minutes, Taylor said.
Taylor said that while looking at screens won't hurt your vision in the long term, it can cause headaches by the end of the day. This is true for students as well as workers.
"When kids have headaches at the end of the day they may be having eye strain," he said.
Taylor recommends children get an eye exam when they reach school age, or sooner if parents suspect there may be a problem.
Besides eye strain and headaches, looking at computers and television can cut into time we could use to be active and exercise. Experts at the National Institutes of Health recommend that aside from homework and work, people have no more than two hours of screen time each day.
Research from the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation found that in 2010, children ages 8 to 10 spent approximately 7.5 hours of each day using entertainment media, 4.5 hours watching TV, 1.5 hours on the computer and more than an hour playing video games. That's much higher than the 25 minutes they reported reading books.
Kids and teenagers today also have more access to media in their bedrooms. More than one in three young people have a computer and Internet access in their rooms while half have video games and more than two out of three have TVs, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation.
To limit screen time, the NIH recommends the following:
n Set a good example for your kids: if they see you limiting your screen time to two hours a day, they are more likely to do the same.
n Track how much time your family looks at screens compared to how much physical activity they're getting.
n Enforce a strict two-hour limit on screen time
n Don't put televisions or computers in your child's bedroom - kids with TVs in their room tend to spend more time watching them than those who don't.
n Provide your children with alternative activities to watching TV, such as playing outside.
n And don't use the TV or computer as a reward or punishment for your kids. Viewing it as a reward can make it seem more important to them.