Staring at Smartphones All Day... Half of the World's Population Suffers from 'This Disease'

Myopia Risk Increases by 21% for Every Hour of Screen Time
"Less Than One Hour a Day May Be the Potential Safe Threshold"

A study has found that the risk of developing myopia increases by 21% for every additional hour spent looking at digital screens such as smartphones and tablets each day.

On the 22nd, Professor Kim Young-guk and his research team from the Department of Ophthalmology at Seoul National University College of Medicine announced in the American Medical Association journal JAMA Network Open that they confirmed the association between the time spent using digital screens such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and TVs and the increased incidence of myopia through a meta-analysis of 45 studies involving over 330,000 participants.

The research team explained that it is projected that about half of the world’s population will suffer from myopia by 2050, and this is related to the increasing prevalence of myopia, earlier onset, faster progression, and more severe myopia at stabilization. They also added that this implies a growing global burden of myopia-related diseases such as macular degeneration, retinal detachment, and glaucoma.

To clarify the relationship between digital screen time and myopia risk, the researchers searched medical and life science academic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, etc.) for relevant studies, selecting 45 studies involving 335,524 participants (average age 9.3 years), and conducted a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. The results showed that the risk of myopia significantly increased when digital screen device usage time?including smartphones, tablets, game consoles, computers, and TVs?was between 1 and 4 hours per day. The risk of myopia increased gradually when screen time was less than 1 hour, rose sharply between 1 and 4 hours, and then the rate of increase slowed again beyond 4 hours. The researchers explained, "This suggests that the potential safe threshold for digital screen time to reduce myopia risk is less than 1 hour per day." The probability of developing myopia increased by 21% for every additional hour of screen time.

Professor Kim said, "We believe that screen time of 4 hours or more, where the risk of myopia doubles, is clinically significant," but added, "The recommended usage time can be adjusted according to the child’s environment." He also noted that these findings could provide information for educational strategies and public health policies to address the myopia epidemic.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.