How to maintain good vision amidst the myopia epidemic
30 comments
·November 10, 2025modeless
seer
Ha! My parents also thought this was the case, I was a child before the internet and phones, my favourite hobby was playing around in the trees next to our soviet commie block.
I had an incredible childhood with building hidden dwellings in the woods, unsupervised fires and bicycle journeys, football, building ice castles etc, swimming and martial arts lessons. My parents even limited my TV time to 2h a day.
But I still had —1 myopia for every grade until 7th.
My analysis is that by that time I got into reading books - both science and fantasy, and then boom my eyesight was fucked.
Thank god for LASIK.
ericbarrett
I keep hearing this, but I spent a lot of time outdoors as a child. Hours every day, riding bikes with friends and running around with BB guns in the woods. We played a lot of video games and read books, too, but we spent plenty of time making tree forts and "sword fighting" with old pipes. Still needed glasses by the age of 7.
modeless
Obviously, genetics also plays a role in individual cases. We're talking about the population level here, and genetics doesn't explain the myopia epidemic, because population-level genetics hasn't changed rapidly. Time outdoors has.
ericbarrett
I believe that more screen and reading time causes more childhood myopia. That seems hard to refute. I just do not believe, without serious peer-reviewed studies, that "a couple hours a day outside" is the magic cure. Out of my friend group, 3/4 of us needed glasses, and we definitely met the "couple hours a day outside" criterion. But we also loved our Street Fighter 2.
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plun9
It could be both. And focus distance may matter. Like, books may also cause myopia. Reading books outdoors may be a bit better than reading books indoors. Using screens at a distance could also be benign.
jaggederest
Article misses the mark a little bit. "Outdoors" preventing myopia isn't about focusing distance, it's about light levels. Dimmer light makes the eye think it isn't done growing, so it grows more.
You can replicate those light levels indoors, if you're bloody minded enough to do so. It's somewhat expensive but for a tech-enabled crowd not too difficult.
You need about 10x to 100x the lighting most people are satisfied with indoors, and you need to turn it on whenever you're in the room and leave it on between sunrise and sunset. This is easiest with timers and automation.
The most important thing about all of this is to realize that children NEED outdoor recess sometime between the hours of 10am and 2pm every day. They don't have to be directly exposed to the sun, but they need to be in an environment with >1000 lux, more is generally better, for a number of hours. This will prevent their growing eyes from continuing to grow indefinitely.
We know this because there was an intervention in Taiwan, which has extremely high myopia levels in children (80%+ last I heard), and it dropped myopia from ~80% to ~35% in the intervention group. That's an astounding effectiveness for something free.
joak
Interesting, it seems really likely that more light indoors should be good. Do you have a reference, a scientific study on the topic? Thanks!
walterbell
It's difficult for artificial light to compete with full-spectrum natural daylight from an infinitely distant light source (sun). See previous attempts at sunlight simulation indoors.
jaggederest
Here's a couple from a random search for the convenience of the forum:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29371008/
https://reviewofmm.com/light-as-a-tool-for-myopia-control/
I can't find the site that I read a while ago, it was very similar to the myticker.com site that was posted the other day for heart disease but focused on myopia.
SoftTalker
I have fairly bad myopia (-6) and I was outside a lot as a kid. I don’t buy this argument, at least not universally.
alanbernstein
Practically nothing in health science is universal, your anecdote does not disprove anything.
walterbell
> In my opinion, it’s too early, too ambiguous, and the jury is out on whether myopia can actually be reversed.
We do need studies on if/why/how myopia reduction works for some people.
However, we already know a guaranteed way to increase myopia:
1. Wear corrective lens for 20/20 vision for distant objects, e.g. driver license vision test.
2. Keep wearing distance lens for closeup, e.g. phone at 12".
3. Keep wearing distance lens for near work, e.g. book or laptop at 24".
4. Keep wearing distance lens for intermediate, e.g. monitor at 36".
5. Eye adapts (more myopia) to get 20/20 vision at daily focusing distance, e.g. work laptop.
6. Optometrist measures that distance correction with lens is now worse than 20/20.
7. Optometrist increases distance correction to get back to 20/20, for legal (e.g. driving) compliance.
8. Go to Step 1.
ranger_danger
How does one "buy dedicated lenses for that distance"? The distance between my eyeballs and my screen is 28 inches, but I do not know how to translate this into what to buy.
gwbas1c
"Cheaters": Get the lowest power reading glasses they sell at the drug store.
You can also order 0.75 diopter glasses on Amazon that work real well.
walterbell
Ask optometrist for "intermediate lens" prescription for the distance of your screen.
Ask optician to customize the intermediate/computer glasses for your work posture, e.g. looking straight ahead (monitor) or down (laptop).
For those with more time than money, learn from opticians at https://www.optiboard.com/forums/ before ordering online.
Wistar
Hmm. I am 67 and require no corrective lenses. Two years ago, at my last exam, the doctor said I was “the one percent of the one percent of people” my age that do not require glasses. All of my siblings and both of my parents wore glasses.
Most of my professional life has been spent staring at screens, usually in darkened rooms, so I have no idea why my sight is still good.
zdw
Interesting that you didn't get age related presbyopia and needed reading glasses as a result.
It's one of the more annoying things about getting older, if you didn't need glasses before sometime in your 40's.
walterbell
Left to their own devices (i.e. without external lens adjustments), one aging eye can specialize in closeup and the other in distance. This will lead to monocular vision that is functional for both distance and closeup. This separation can be assisted by corrective lens.
Vision therapy: https://raygottlieb.com/presbyopia
Expensive progressive glasses have neurological impact, not just optical. Better to use separate distance and reading glasses which manipulate only optics, and provide the brain with a physical signal of "mode" change.
WalterBright
I've worn glasses since I was 6. At least 3 times my glasses have saved me from eye injury.
gerdesj
Us four eyes are wearing safety goggles all the time. I would probably prefer perfect vision instead but blindness avoided is a blessing.
gwbas1c
I just purchased some computer glasses that are optimized for about 38 inches. (A little short of a meter.) I get no eyestrain, and looking far away isn't awful.
EiZei
Spending a couple thousand on LASIK was the best investment I’ve ever made. The money I’ve saved on prescription glasses alone has already paid for lot of it, and ten years later my distance vision is still nearly perfect. Now only if there was a similar procedure for my neck and posture..
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nntwozz
I wonder what effects VR and AR will have on this.
walterbell
Head worn glasses simulate infinity/distance, so they do not impose focus or convergence stress on the eye.
Viture glasses ship with adjustable myopia optical correction to -5.00D (no cylinder), or they have an optional frame for custom prescriptions.
plun9
Same. Hopefully AR/VR and other display technologies will mitigate myopia.
porphyra
Why was this downvoted? VR shows an image at infinity which is much better than other display technologies, and new technologies like micro LED chips can be super bright and even rival the outdoors. Together, both hypotheses regarding myopia are addressed.
mensetmanusman
Try to experience an hour of 10,000 nits outdoor brightness per day.
This article is written in a way that will propagate the myth that screens are bad for your eyes. Screens are not uniquely bad. The myopia epidemic is not caused by screens per se, but by a lack of time outdoors during childhood. What is it about time outdoors that prevents myopia? It is some combination of much brighter light, broader light spectrum, and objects in your peripheral vision being farther away. I don't think it is fully known yet which of these factors is most important, and I am skeptical of claims that one in particular is to blame over the others. But ultimately some combination of these factors provides the signal to your retina to stop growing once it reaches the right size, which prevents myopia.
As long as you get a few hours outdoors most days during childhood, it doesn't really matter (from the perspective of myopia prevention) if you spend your indoor time in front of a screen or not. And if you don't get that outdoor time, avoiding screens won't save you from myopia. Screens are not really relevant here except to the extent that they encourage children to spend less time outside. You could just as easily blame HVAC or other conveniences of modern homes that make it nicer to stay inside.