- New study shows that screen use increases children’s risk of developing nearsightedness, or myopia
- Doctors recommend regular breaks and outdoor play to reduce eye strain
- A Michigan group is calling for 60 minutes of screen-free recess daily. Legislators also considering cell phone school limits
Screens are everywhere — at school, at home and even in kids’ pockets.
But the impact on their eyes might be more serious than many parents realize: A recent study by the Journal of the American Medical Association linked excessive screen time to rising myopia — or nearsightedness — in kids.
Each hour of screen time increases the risk of children developing myopia by 20%, according to researchers, who suggest “minimizing overall near-work activities while promoting increased outdoor time” to mitigate the risk.
The findings are helping fuel renewed efforts in Michigan to limit school cell phone use and encourage more recess, which experts say could help protect children’s vision and overall development.
Health professionals say the real challenge is helping kids and parents understand how to protect their eyes in an increasingly digital world.
“The issue is that now these technologies are happening all the time and kids don’t have good guidelines of what they should be doing to prevent things like eye strain or eye irritation,” said Dr. Sharmila Segar, a pediatric ophthalmologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
To avoid eye irritation, Segar recommends that for every 20 minutes of screen time, children should look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
“There needs to be some sort of education done in the classroom level as well among teachers about how screens can affect the eyes and cause strain,” she said.
That education becomes even more important as screens play a larger role in the school day. Pediatric specialists also recognize that some screen time is unavoidable, especially when technology is built into daily lessons.
“Of course, kids are using laptops and iPads and things like that as textbooks these days and so there’s really no getting around that,” said Dr. Rajesh Rao, a pediatric ophthalmologist at Corewell Health in Michigan. “But we’re talking about discretionary screen time on video games.”
Related: Plan to ‘limit’ cellphones in schools passes Michigan Senate. Is it tough enough?
The World Health Organization recommends children younger than 1 have no screen time at all.
“For kids from two to six, it’s generally recommended that we limit the screen time to one hour or less, primarily consisting of educational programming that should be watched with the parent together, not alone,” Rao said.
Even for older children, it’s still recommended that they have less than two hours of screen time a day.
That’s becoming harder to achieve as screens take over both learning and leisure time.
Because technological advances have increased the use of screens in day-to-day activities, free time for children has evolved into time spent playing video games or scrolling on social media instead of being outside.
Being indoors in general is another major factor in increased risks of developing myopia, Rao said.
No to cell phones, but yes to recess?
Myopia is just one example of how excessive screen time can negatively affect children. Studies show that young children who are exposed to screen time engage in fewer back-and-forth, face-to-face interactions, have lower developmental test scores and have lower psychological well-being.
Excessive screen use is also linked to poor sleep, obesity, weaker thinking skills, lower grades and more emotional and behavioral issues among older children.
Michigan lawmakers are pushing to restrict cellphone use in schools, as requested by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, but they have disagreed on how strict policies should be.
The Democratic-led Senate in May passed a bill that would require districts to reduce phone use during school hours. A stricter bill that stalled last month in the Republican-led House calls for an outright ban during class, lunch, recess and passing periods
Efforts to encourage more school recess time have also stagnated in Michigan, where the Department of Education recommends that elementary children receive 20 minutes of recess each day.
Under current state law, individual school districts can determine how much time to allot for recess. State rules allow districts to count up to 30 minutes of recess a day as instructional time, so long as it is supervised by a certified teacher, but bipartisan legislation to codify that in state law did not make it out of committee last session.
“You can’t have (kids) there at a desk all day long,” said state Rep. Matt Koleszar, D-Plymouth, who is working to reintroduce the recess legislation. “It’s not going to be productive to learning. They need that energy outlet. It’s very important to let kids go be kids.”
While critics fear extending recess would cut into instructional time, advocates say the state should increase access to recess, whether it is unstructured free play or more structured time with teachers.
“We know that those core social development milestones that happen when kids are in recess or playing after school (are not happening) because they’re on screen,” said Katie Bennett, leader of the Michigan chapter of Say Yes to Recess, a nonprofit organization that advocates for elementary school children to have 60 minutes a day of screen-free recess.
The organization was founded by three Tennessee moms who wanted more recess time for their children. Earlier this year, Gov. Bill Lee signed a law requiring all elementary schools in that state to provide at least 40 minutes of recess each day.
“We need to make sure that we’re preserving recess and making sure that … kids get that recess time because it is so key to child development,” Bennett said.
Doctors and advocates alike are urging families to get kids moving and back outside, when they can.
“If it’s safe for you to go outside, try to replace some of that (screen time) playing outside and doing some of those activities as a family together,” said Dr. Tiffany Munzer, a developmental pediatrician for the University of Michigan Health.
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