One thing we all love as society creeps closer and closer to a maxed-out, technologically savvy world is our devices; two key ones being our computers, and our cell-phones. When we watch a YouTube video of cats being airheads or do assignments that want to tear our hair out, we probably don’t notice it, but our eyes are sucking in light. But this light is not the kind of light that we want and should be sucking in; blue-light. Hold up. Blue-light?

Yep. As you stare into your TV and watch Pitch Perfect 3 or into your cell-phone and stalk people on Instagram, you’re causing your eyes to suck in something special, something called blue light.

Wait a second… What is blue light?

Bluelight is a high energy, short waved light form that matches the type of light that the sun gives off. I’m sure that you all have had to wear sunglasses before because staring into the sun is like pins and needles stabbing your eyes; however, do you ever consider how other light affects your eyes? Well, let me make you aware, my fellow owls, of the damage that blue light can cause to those dear little pupils of yours.

Blue light can be quite scary when you think about the potential damage done to your eyes. Some reports say that emission can cause blindness! However, this doesn’t mean that staring at a screen will make you blind, as there are millions of people who do it every day. But one thing that we should be remembering is that blue light can and will cause rapid aging of the retinal tissue, and can increase the risk of age-related macular degeneration.

Retinal tissue? Macular Degeneration? Those are some really big words. Let’s break them down, shall we?

The Retina:

• The retina is the lining towards the back of the eye. It’s located near what’s called the optic nerve, and what the optic nerve does is sends a signal to the visual part of the brain, making our eyes recognize what we see! The retina is the part of the eye that will take the light and image that the lens has focused on and it will turn it into neural signals, making the optic nerve take them to the brain for recognition. Without the retina, we could have some serious sight issues going on!

• Taking this a step further, if the retina degenerates over time, it can lead to permanent vision loss and damage. It’s important to protect the retina because bad things can happen to your eyes if you don’t!

Macular Degeneration:

• Macular Degen is where the central part of your retina degenerates and starts to distort your vision. Again, this can damage your retina, and lead to some pretty bad conditions and problems for your eyes. This can be age-related, and Macular Degen can become something called AMD, or age-related macular degeneration. 

• Sometimes this can be caused by age, and organs and functional elements of our bodies just don’t work as well as we get older. It can also be caused by cardiovascular diseases, for the main reason that the heart and vessels are what pump our blood, and if something blood-related gets messed up, our eyes can suffer from that.

Okay, now that I have recapped the conditions that blue-light can cause and fuel, it’s time to get into another harmful thing that blue-light sabotages; sleep.

Sleep is the one thing that most teens want but never can seem to have or get. We like to pull all-nighters, stay up till 3 a.m. playing Fortnite, or get way too addicted to Among Us. The problem with those wonderful activities is the simple reason for disturbing our sleep schedule. With online school, even though we have free-time and flexibility galore, sometimes getting off our sleep schedules can mess up our bodies, lead to mood swings, and deprive our bodies of rest and rejuvenation, leading to us being WAY MORE SUSCEPTIBLE to illness.

If we choose to use technology a few hours before bed, it’s very easy to get our sleep schedules, or aka circadian rhythm messed up. The last thing we want after a long, tiring day is to not be able to sleep! When we stare at screens during the day and at night, we’re feeding the fuel of terrible sleep and a miserable course of life. Our eyes strain to see as the blue-light damages our vision, and sometimes, speaking from experience, it can hurt after a long, screen-filled day.

Okay, so I have officially dumped on you a truck-load of information. What are you supposed to do with all of this? Well, use it to keep your eyes healthy! Here’s what I suggest:

Since iUPrep is a virtual school, it’s super important for us to be cautious with how we take care of our eyes! Many of us wear glasses, I included, and those with glasses or contacts have a hard time seeing as it is; so what now?

I first heard about blue-light effects from my older brother, who was doing college online and struggling to fall asleep at night, needed a way to do so. So, he invested in blue-light glasses. Blue light glasses are glasses that have lenses able to block out the incoming blue light and therefore save your eyes from all the trouble and pain. They only cost a few dollars on Amazon, and are super easy to find! There are many colors to choose from, and they can look pretty snazzy once you get used to the feel 🙂

Blue Light Glasses

For all of you eyeglass wearers, the solution for you is to limit time on your screens, especially at night. If you can print something out, it’s better, and it definitely helps your eyes out. Yes, it might seem like a hassle now, but you won’t regret it later when you aren’t blind because of blue-light damage. If you have the option, you can also get specially crafted prescription lenses that serve the purpose of blocking out the blue-light along with helping you to see clearer!

At iUPrep, there are so many cool things to be a part of; but one can’t spend time in these areas without being able to see them clearly; we’re a virtual school so good eyesight is important. So do your eyes a favor, and be careful with your screen-time! Sooner or later you’ll find that the YouTube video or Video Game isn’t worth the temporary joy, at least, not for your eyes.

Citations:

Michael York Reading, P. (2019, September 25). Keep your eyeglass frames, get new lenses, save an extra 20% – CNET. Retrieved December 19, 2020, from https://raymondtec.com/2019/09/keep-your-eyeglass-frames-get-new-lenses-save-an-extra-20-cnet/

Stepko, B. (2019, July 30). Effects of Blue Light Exposure on Your Eyes and Sleep. Retrieved December 19, 2020, from https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2019/blue-light-eyestrain.html