Screens : young adults increasingly short-sighted

Viculia/epictura

Published the 31.08.2017 to 07h44

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écranmyopie

The view of young adults deteriorates. According to the annual Barometer of the Health and vision of the French, directed since 2005 by Opinion Way on behalf of the AsnaV (national Association for the improvement of the view), the 16-24 year olds are developing more and more sight problems and suffer from visual fatigue.

The barometer shows that myopia is gaining ground among the 16-24 year olds. As a result, 41 % of them declared that they are encountering difficulties to see from far away, compared to 29% in 2016. In addition, 40 % complain of visual fatigue, compared to 23% in 2012.

10 hours per day in front of screens

Overall, nearly six out of ten young people (59 %) report having a visual disorder, compared to 47 % in the general population. This represents an increase of seven points compared to the previous year.

The survey also points out that the place taken by the screens in the lives of young people 16 to 24 years of age. If they tend to watch less tv than the average French (1h36 against 2h03), they spend much more time in front of a screen (computer, smartphone…), at the rate of nine hours and 57 minutes per day, three hours more than the French average (six hours and 22 minutes). The youth consult each other on average on their smartphone for four hours every day.

The fault screens ?

“From there to criminalise the activities which support the vision of the vicinity, with or without a screen, there is a not that we no longer hesitate to cross,” writes the AsnaV in a press release.

In fact, these long sessions in front of the screens could be at the origin of the increase of visual disturbances observed in this age class. But they are not alone : studies have shown that activities such as reading for extended periods of time, could increase the risk of myopia. In fact, this visual disorder is favored by the lack of sun.

The Asnav called the parents to make regular visits to an ophthalmologist to check the sight of their children.