• Published by Salma Safira Sukma from BehaviorPALS Center 

In this modern day, many things in children’s lives have become more and more digital. Children spend many hours a day on their phones, tablets, or computers to play games, watch their favorite shows, or work on their school assignment. Moreover, since the pandemic of Covid-19, schools have been conducting online classes for children which adds to their daily screen time. High exposure to digital screens can lead to eye fatigue, irritated eyes, nearsightedness, and overall health issues. Therefore, protecting the health of your little one’s eyes becomes even more important than ever. 

Here are some tips to keep your child’s eyes healthy during screen time:

1. Adjust the screen

This includes the lighting or brightness, font size, and position or distance. For example, keep the screen brightness appropriate and eliminate glare. The more reflection on the screen, then the harder their eyes have to work. You can have your child arrange their seating so no shadows or lights from the lamp or sun fall on the screen and have the lightning in the room be the same as the screen. Moreover, adjusting the font size so it is not too small can help make their eyes feel more comfortable. To minimize eye strain, make sure that your child is not sitting too close to the screen by encouraging your child to follow the 1-2-10 rules; holding the phone 1 foot away from their face, sitting 2 feet away from the computer or laptop, and sitting 10 feet away from the TV. It is also recommended to have their digital screen positioned slightly lower than their eye level to avoid dry eyes. 

2. Encourage more outdoor activities and physical exercise

Studies found that lack of outdoor activity is highly correlated to myopia progression. Doing physical exercise is also critical for your child’s visual development and overall health. For children, active outdoor play can be a great exercise and it opens the opportunity for them to see things at varying distances and get natural sunlight. 

3. Follow the “20/20/20” rule

For every 20 minutes of staring at a screen, ask your child to take a break and focus on objects 20 feet away from them for 20 seconds. This “20/20/20” rule is a well-known method to make sure that your eyes have enough breaks during screen time and it is also applicable for your children.

4. Make sure they have enough sleep

While it may be inevitable that children will be drawn to digital screens, an effort can still be made to make sure they get adequate sleeping hours to help them refresh and avoid sore eyes. Screen exposure during bedtime should also be avoided as it may interfere with the sleep quality. 

5. Monitor screen time

Today’s children might need to spend hours on screen working on their school assignment, but reducing screen time is still necessary whenever possible. It is very important that their screen time doesn't interfere with their sleep and exercise quality. You can discuss a schedule to limit your child’s screen time and make sure they have time for outdoor activities. 

6. Model good-screen-time behavior

Children learn mostly from their environment, so parents must be conscious of how much time they spend on screen and give a good example for the children to follow. Make sure to show them that your devices are appropriately placed and adjusted while using them and also limit your screen time to do some exercise and spend time outdoors.

References: 

Get your child’s eyes a screen-time break: Here’s why. (2021, April 28). Healthychildren.org. Retrieved January 27, 2023 from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/eyes/Pages/What-Too-Much-Screen-Time-Does-to-Your-Childs-Eyes.aspx#:~:text=Take%20frequent%20breaks.&text=The%20American%20Optometric%20Association%20recommends,least%2010%20minutes%20every%20hour.

Malik, A. (2021, December 21). How too much screen time affects kids’ eyes:  Tips to prevent eye strain. https://www.chop.edu/news/health-tip/how-too-much-screen-time-affects-kids-eyes

Protecting your children’s vision.(n.d.). Insight Vision Meter Optometry. Retrieved January 28, 2023 from (https://www.insightvisionoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/OrthoK-Ebook-Protecting-Your-Childrens-Vision-eBook.pdf 

Gracias, A. (2020, November 10). How to take care of your child’s eyes during online classes. ParentCircle. https://www.parentcircle.com/how-to-take-care-of-childs-eyes-during-online-classes/article

By: Salma Safira Sukma Ikhsani, S.Psi. from BehaviorPALS

child, eyes, health, screen time

Children 4 Years - 6 Years / 4 Tahun - 6 Tahun / General Health / Kesehatan Umum / Health / Kesehatan / Keeping Your Child’s Eyes Healthy During Screen Time

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