Young people spending hours staring at screens means half the world may need glasses within 30 years.

Phone devices and computer screens are to blame for the rising risk of short-sightedness among children and young adults, say scientists.

Researchers have found high levels of looking at a phone or tablet is linked with around a 30 percent higher risk of short-sightedness, also known as myopia. But when it is combined with excessive computer use, that risk rose to around 80 percent.

Researchers fear that this could mean that by 2050, half the world or 5 billion people could be short-sighted.

The authors examined more than 3,000 studies investigating smart device exposure and myopia in children and young adults aged between 3 months old and 33 years old.

In 2019, the World Health Organization recommended children under 2 should not have any screen time and children aged 2 to 5 should have no more than one hour a day of sedentary screen time. But in the same year, a CensusWide survey of 2,000 British families found children were spending an average of 23 hours a week staring at screens.

Numerous studies have also suggested that number has vastly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Bourne of Ophthalmology in the Vision and Eye Research Institute at Anglia Ruskin University said: “Around half the global population is expected to have myopia by 2050, so it is a health concern that is escalating quickly.

“Our study is the most comprehensive yet on this issue and shows a potential link between screen time and myopia in young people.

“This research comes at a time when our children have been spending more time than ever looking at screens for long periods, due to school closures, and it is clear that urgent research is needed to further understand how exposure to digital devices can affect our eyes and vision.

The study was published in The Lancet Digital Health.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【近视】 jìnshì myopia the inability to see things clearly when they are far away

【久坐不动】 jiǔ zuò bùdòng sedentary spending a lot of time sitting down and not moving

如今年轻人盯着屏幕的时间达数小时，这意味着未来30年内世界上一半的人可能要戴眼镜。

科学家称，手机和电脑屏幕是儿童和年轻人近视风险上升的罪魁祸首。

研究人员发现，长时间盯着手机或平板电脑会使患近视的风险增加约30%。但如果再加上过度使用电脑，这种风险将上升到80%左右。

研究人员担心，这可能意味着到2050年，世界上一半人口或50亿人可能患近视。

该研究论文的作者对3000多项研究进行了回顾，这些研究调查了3个月至33岁的儿童和年轻人接触智能设备和近视的情况。

2019年，世界卫生组织建议2岁以下儿童不应接触屏幕，2至5岁儿童每天看屏幕的时间不应超过1小时。但同年，CensusWide机构一项针对2000个英国家庭的调查发现，儿童平均每周看屏幕的时间为23小时。

许多研究也表明，在新冠疫情期间，儿童看屏幕的时间大幅增加。

安格利亚鲁斯金大学视力和眼睛研究所眼科教授伯恩说：“预计到2050年，全球约有一半的人口患近视，因此近视是一个正在迅速升级的健康问题。”

“我们的研究是迄今为止对这个问题研究得最全面的，它显示了年轻人看屏幕的时间与近视之间的潜在联系。”

“因为学校停课，孩子们盯着屏幕看的时间比以往任何时候都长，这项研究正是在这时候进行的。显然，我们迫切需要进行研究，以进一步了解接触电子设备会如何影响我们的眼睛和视力。”

这项研究发表在《柳叶刀——数字医疗》杂志上。

(chinadaily.com.cn)