![]() ![]() If blue light was the cause of eye strain, it would be far worse in those who work outdoors than in office dwellers or heavy smartphone users.īlue light is just a frequency, and it’s always been an essential part of the human visual experience. “There are studies that have shown that sunlight, just standing outdoors in the daytime, is like 200 times more intense an exposure to blue light than any screen for eight or 10 hours a day,” he says. But as Gordon points out, screens are far from the only source. This neat obfuscation is made easier by the fact that few consumers know what blue light actually is or where it comes from, except that it’s associated with digital screens. A person could just as easily experience the symptoms of digital eye strain from reading a book for eight hours with limited breaks, but many fewer jobs require that, Gordon notes. “Eye strain is about the disparity between the things you want to look at and the natural focusing of your eyes, and how long you do it,” says Adam Gordon, a clinical associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry. ![]() The makers of blue-light–blocking glasses tend to skirt around this fact in their marketing by implying a causal relationship between two things that are actually unrelated: the light emitted by digital screens and the strain we feel from looking at any one thing for too long. ![]() He points out that although these anxieties may feel recent, many people have been using computers all day for decades, and medical professionals would by now be aware of any serious eye damage caused by their use. As far as I know, nothing of any seriousness has turned up since,” Brodie says. There was no excess of any eye problem in those patients. Those concerns also turned out to be unfounded. The novelty of computers and the unknown repercussions of their daily use initially caused doctors and labor advocates to lobby for increased health protections for workers, Brodie explains-concerns that mirror contemporary fears about the evolving technology of our everyday lives. ![]() “This first became a thing back in the late ’80s or early ’90s,” says Scott Brodie, an ophthalmologist at New York University Langone Health. Read: Does every person see their own rainbow?ĭespite the Instagram fad, “blue light” glasses have been around nearly as long as computers have been a part of regular life. It’s easy to assume they might be indicative of larger problems or long-term damage, and that maybe you should be safeguarding yourself. At its worst, it can give people headaches and temporarily blurred vision, which are symptoms that can feel very serious. According to the American Optometric Association, more than half of Americans report experiencing digital eye strain, which manifests in dry, tired eyes, usually at the end of the day. The claims associated with blue-light glasses are simple enough for an Instagram caption, and the angst they address is common enough to stick with people through the infinite scroll. For 50 or 60 bucks, which is what most blue-light–blocking glasses cost, you get a pair of frames that looks cute in a selfie and that might help you fall asleep if worn before bed, but not much else. For the most part, these glasses are the latest in a long line of fashion products masquerading as health aids in the anxiety economy of social media. The only problem is that there’s no science linking blue-light exposure to digital eye strain or retinal damage. In recent months, these brands have tapped an ever larger stable of lifestyle bloggers and former reality-TV stars to get out the word about their glasses (and provide some discount codes as an incentive) through sponsored Instagram posts like Bushnell’s. Instead, they claim to protect your eyes from what these brands say are the damaging effects of your digital life. Along with other up-and-coming eyewear lines like Quay Australia and Tijn Eyewear, Diff’s new frames are meant to be worn indoors, and they don’t promise vision correction. The glasses are from Diff Eyewear, a brand that had made only fashion sunglasses until it recently joined a rapidly growing market for glasses whose lenses are intended only to block blue light. In the caption, she warned of what might happen to her-and to you-without them: headaches, blurred vision, fatigue, and long-term retinal damage. Perched on her bed in loungewear, she grasped a new pair of glasses. Recently on Instagram, the former Bachelor contestant Lauren Bushnell had an important message for her 1.1 million followers.
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