Research from the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) shows that spending a considerable period of time reading on a mobile phone or tablet increases 9 of the 10 most frequent visual and ocular symptoms , such as blurred vision or dry eyes
After how many minutes do these symptoms begin to appear?
Reading more than 20 minutes on the screen of a mobile phone or tablet instead of doing it in physical format, on paper, already worsens 90% of the ocular and visual symptoms analyzed in the study carried out by Spanish scientists and that collects Applied Ergonomics magazine.
This is the first study to look at the eye health effects of prolonged reading on these electronic devices compared to the traditional reading method , paper. Also, assess whether the level of these symptoms changes if it is read in light or in the dark.
“Prolonged reading on a smartphone can cause more visual symptoms than reading on paper under the same conditions of font size, reading distance, or ambient lighting,” explains Beatriz Antona, co-author of the work.
For their study, the experts carried out two experiments with a total of 54 volunteers with good visual health. In the experiments they evaluated 10 ocular symptoms: blurred vision during and after reading; difficulty in focusing distances; irritated, dry, or tired eyes; visual fatigue; sensitivity to brightness of light; eye discomfort and headache.
Research from the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) shows that spending a considerable period of time reading on a mobile phone or tablet increases 9 of the 10 most frequent visual and ocular symptoms , such as blurred vision or dry eyes
After how many minutes do these symptoms begin to appear?
Reading more than 20 minutes on the screen of a mobile phone or tablet instead of doing it in physical format, on paper, already worsens 90% of the ocular and visual symptoms analyzed in the study carried out by Spanish scientists and that collects Applied Ergonomics magazine.
This is the first study to look at the eye health effects of prolonged reading on these electronic devices compared to the traditional reading method , paper. Also, assess whether the level of these symptoms changes if it is read in light or in the dark.
In the first of them, they compared the visual symptoms that appeared after reading a text on paper for twenty minutes and the same text on a mobile phone. In the second, they compared the symptoms after reading in this type of device with ambient lighting and in the dark, without modifying the brightness of the screen. At the end of each reading, the participants completed a questionnaire to assess their degree of symptoms. The responses revealed worsening of symptoms. All the symptoms, except for the headache, worsened with the reading on the mobile.
The reduced size of the screen and of the letter on a mobile ‘encourages users to hold the mobile at a shorter reading distance and this leads to an increase in the demands of accommodation and vergences on the visual system to be able to correctly focus the text ‘, concludes Antona.
How to protect our eyes
The UCM researchers recommend the first of all, to reduce the use of mobile phones; Also avoid using it completely in the dark without any type of lighting and, if this is not possible, in any case lower the brightness of the screen to the minimum, adjusting it manually if necessary. Only then can we reduce these visual problems.
Reference: Antona B, Barrio A, Gasco A, Pinar A, Puell M, González M. “Symptoms associated with reading from a smartphone in conditions of light and dark”. Applied Ergonomics 2018; 68: 12-17. DOI: 10.1016 / j.apergo.2017.10.014
