Your eyes weren’t designed to spend eight hours a day staring at a screen. But for many of us, that’s exactly what the modern workday demands.
You wake up and check your phone. You open your laptop for work. You move between meetings, spreadsheets, emails and presentations. Then, after work, you scroll through social media, watch something or catch up on messages.
By the end of the day, your eyes may feel dry, tired, irritated or strangely heavy.
You might even find yourself squinting at your screen, rubbing your eyes or developing a headache.
These symptoms are common, but they shouldn’t simply become something you accept as part of working life.
Eye health is an important part of overall health, and good vision plays a major role in how we work, learn, move through the world and maintain our independence. Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have some form of near or distance vision impairment, and at least 1 billion cases could have been prevented or have yet to be addressed.
For working adults, taking care of your eyes isn’t just about seeing clearly. It’s about protecting your ability to work comfortably and effectively today while detecting problems that could affect your vision tomorrow.
Spending long periods looking at a computer, phone or tablet can lead to digital eye strain, also called computer vision syndrome.
It isn’t a single disease. It describes a group of eye and vision-related symptoms associated with prolonged digital-device use.
Common symptoms include:
The problem isn’t simply that screens are “damaging your eyes.”
When you’re concentrating on a screen, you tend to blink less frequently and may make incomplete blinks. That means the surface of your eyes can become less well lubricated, contributing to dryness and irritation. Glare, poor lighting, an uncomfortable viewing distance and an unsuitable workstation can make symptoms worse.
And if you already have an uncorrected vision problem, screen work can feel even more uncomfortable.
The 20-20-20 rule is simple. Actually doing it is the hard part.
One of the easiest habits you can build into a screen-heavy workday is the 20-20-20 rule:
Every 20 minutes, look at something about 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.
It gives your eyes a brief break from sustained near-focus.
You can also:
Blink deliberately.
When you’re deeply focused on a screen, your blink rate can fall. Making a conscious effort to blink fully and regularly can help maintain the tear film over your eyes.
Reduce glare.
Position your screen so that windows and overhead lights aren’t reflecting directly into it.
Check your screen position.
Your screen should generally be positioned at a comfortable distance and slightly below eye level rather than forcing you to look upward for hours.
Don’t work through persistent symptoms.
If dryness, headaches, blurred vision or eye discomfort keeps returning, don’t automatically assume that you simply need to “reduce screen time.” An underlying vision problem may be contributing.
Sometimes the screen gets blamed for what is an uncorrected refractive error.
Refractive errors occur when the eye doesn’t focus light properly on the retina. The major types include:
Myopia
Also known as short-sightedness. You can see things close to you relatively clearly, but objects farther away may look blurry.
Hyperopia
Also called long-sightedness. Depending on its severity and the person’s age, seeing things up close can be difficult.
Astigmatism
An irregular curvature of the cornea or lens can cause vision to appear distorted or blurred at different distances.
Presbyopia
This is the age-related loss of the ability to focus on nearby objects. It typically becomes noticeable after about age 40 and is a normal part of ageing.
These conditions are extremely common and can occur at a young age, and importantly, uncorrected refractive error remains the leading cause of vision impairment globally. Appropriate glasses or contact lenses can correct many refractive errors.
So if you’ve started holding your phone farther away, increasing your font size, squinting at documents, struggling to read things that used to be clear or noticing that letters or objects look blurry, don’t simply blame your age, or your laptop.
Get your eyes checked.
Digital eye strain is uncomfortable.
Glaucoma is different.
Glaucoma is a group of eye conditions that can damage the optic nerve and cause permanent vision loss. One of the reasons it is so dangerous is that it often has no symptoms in its early stages. People can gradually lose peripheral vision without realising anything is wrong.
Risk increases with age, and having a family history of glaucoma also increases your risk. Certain populations, including Black adults, are at higher risk as well.
That is why waiting until your vision becomes noticeably worse isn’t a reliable screening strategy.
For people at higher risk, comprehensive eye examinations can help detect glaucoma before significant vision loss occurs.
Don’t wait until you can barely see.
Consider seeing an eye-care professional if you experience:
And if you’re at increased risk of glaucoma, particularly because of age or family history, talk to an eye-care professional about appropriate screening.
A vision screening can also identify refractive errors that may be easily corrected and help determine whether you need a more comprehensive eye examination.
We think about protecting our laptops from damage. We buy ergonomic chairs. We upgrade our phones.
But the eyes doing all the work are often an afterthought.
If your workday involves hours of screens, make eye breaks part of your routine. Keep your workspace comfortable. Don’t ignore changes in your vision. And make eye examinations part of your healthcare routine, not something you only consider when there’s a problem.
Seeing clearly isn’t a luxury. It’s part of being able to live and work well.
If your Reliance HMO plan includes vision benefits, you can access eligible eye-care services through your plan. Depending on your plan, this may include access to opticians or ophthalmologists and an allocation toward lenses.
Check your Reliance Care app, speak with your healthcare administrator or join the ongoing Enrollees webinar to understand the vision benefits available under your specific plan. Download it for iPhone or Android.
Take care of the eyes doing all the looking.
