When I was a little girl my family would tell me that watching TV was not good for my eyes. I never believed this myth, but as I grew older my eye sight took a turn for the worse. Each year I go to the eye doctors, and each year, I find that my eyes get worse. I even see more young children with glasses now than ever before. This made me question the idea that maybe TV could be what is damaging our eyes. Everything we do involves looking at a screen with bright lighting. Maybe it is not even just TV that can be damaging our eyes but also iPods, iPads, computers, iPhones, and so on. Could technology actually be doing harm on our eyes or is this just a myth?
Dr. Blakeney states that screens with bright lights such as computer or phones or i pods do not damage the eyes, but there are side effects to staring at a screen for too long. Some common side effects include: eye discomfort, vision is blurred, eyes become itchy, perception changes, eyes begin to burn, headaches, watering of the eyes, and focusing becomes hard. This happens to me many times throughout the day considering I spend most of my time on the computer either doing homework or for pure enjoyment. I have noticed some of these symptoms like watering of the eyes, and blurred vision. According to Live Science the reason for watering or dry eyes is because when you are looking at a screen, you tend to not blink as often as you should. When you look at something too close to your face then you do not blink as often causing your eyes to dry out or tear up. Eye strain is another problem with looking at screens for too long. Your pupils get smaller from starring so close up and that causes your eyes to be forced strain together in order to see. Eye strain can happen either because of the glare on a screen or it can be do to how you position the screen you are looking at. To prevent these symptoms breaks are needed from constantly looking at a screen. It is suggested that by simply looking away from the screen multiple times an hour all of this can be avoided.
One article goes on to say that in the olden days the so called myth of TV ruining your eyes was not really a myth. Colored television was created because of a screw up in the making of black and white TVs by General Electric Company. There first colored TVs were because they messed up and had more x rays than allowed. The company corrected the problem by covering the tubes with leaded glass, but the radiation still was a threat on eyesight. The Public Health Service warned parents to not let their children sit close to the TV or watch it for too long of a time due to the radiation coming from the TV. This is how the myth came about. This is now not the case, but Brenda Conaway states that in recent years the number of children that are near sighted has risen by almost 20 percent. So if it is not the technology that is causing bad vision, then what could be the cause for this? 
The title of this alone caught my eye, no pun intended! My habit before bed everynight is to check my emails etc. on my iphone. I know it is time to go to bed and shut the phone off, when my eyes start hurting which happens every night. Its like the light from the screen is burning my eyeballs. so I have been wondering if it is just me being tired or if it is actually the phone that is causing the burning. If so, how damaging is it to my eyes? http://www.apple.com/about/ergonomics/vision.html
Apple.com will tell you itself about the dangers of prolonged starting at a type of screen. What are the long term effects?
As a kid, my mom always limited my time on the computer and watching TV. She would always warn me not to sit too close to the TV or screen of the computer because it could damage my eyes. I think this blog post is very interesting, because until now I had no idea that these forms of technology can’t actually permanently damage your vision; eye strain is temporary and can be easily avoided. However, I think it’s important that parents realize that the latest 3D movies might actually be hurting their children’s eyes. You can read about that here: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/424864/does-3d-hurt-your-eyes-yes-says-science/
That’s really interesting about the proof behind it because I’ve always notice the strain on my eyes from looking at a TV/computer screen for too long. Something else I’ve heard about bad effects from watching television are how they decrease and actually damage our brain function. Here is a link that tells you how watching television has been proven to- lower academic achievement, decrease IQ, lower creative ability and actually damage our brains.
http://www.endalldisease.com/studies-show-television-decreases-iq-creativity-academic-achievement-and-damages-the-brain/