A study has found that exposure to high levels of screen time can increase risk of myopia by up to 80% in children and young adults.
Researchers investigated over 3,000 studies and revealed that high levels of mobile device use were associated with around a 30% higher risk of myopia, which then increased to 80% when combined with excessive computer use.
Rupert Bourne, a professor of ophthalmology at Anglia Ruskin University, said: ‘This research comes at a time when our children have been spending more time than ever looking at screens for long periods, due to school closures.
‘We also know that people underestimate their own screen time, so future studies should use objective measures to capture this information.’