Screens Don't Cause Glasses

I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice. This is an opinion piece. It appears myopia (nearsightedness) is mostly preventable through time spent outdoors in childhood. The critical age range seems to be roughly between 5 - 12 years old. The main issue isn’t screens, reading, or looking at things up close. It seems to be too little daylight. So if you haven’t seen the sun in a minute, consider this your friendly reminder to get outside and get some sunshine. Looking for healthy sunscreen? I’m building an all-natural, tallow-based sunscreen. If you’re a crunchy hippy who wants in, hop on the email list for launch updates—we’ll likely launch on Kickstarter (with probably the cheapest price it’ll ever be) in the next year or two. Join the waitlist: www.animalbasedsunscreen.com Some Sources for the video above: “Seggel (1884) compared prevalence of myopia of the same magnitude among German conscripts and reported 2.4 percent for farm workers and 56.7 percent for compositors and writers.” National Research Council (US) Committee on Vision. Myopia: Prevalence and Progression. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1989. 2, Analysis of the Prevalence Literature. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NB... "The prevalence of myopia in Inuits increased drastically from a low level of less than 3% to a level of more than 50% in generations of young adults after the Second World War." Pärssinen O. Factors associated with the high prevalence of myopia and its decrease-A historical review. Acta Ophthalmol. 2025 Dec;103(8):879-890. doi: 10.1111/aos.70001. Epub 2025 Oct 6. PMID: 41050987; PMCID: PMC12604449. “We predict by 2050 there will be 4758 million people with myopia (49.8% of the world population; 3620-6056 million [95% CI, 43.4%-55.7%]) and 938 million people with high myopia (9.8% of the world population; 479-2104 million [95% CI, 5.7%-19.4%]).” Holden BA, Fricke TR, Wilson DA, Jong M, Naidoo KS, Sankaridurg P, Wong TY, Naduvilath TJ, Resnikoff S. Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology. 2016 May;123(5):1036-42. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2016.01.006. Epub 2016 Feb 11. PMID: 26875007. “[H]igh myopia increases the risk of pathologic ocular changes such as cataract, glaucoma, retinal detachment, and myopic macular degeneration, all of which can cause irreversible vision loss.” Holden BA, Fricke TR, Wilson DA, Jong M, Naidoo KS, Sankaridurg P, Wong TY, Naduvilath TJ, Resnikoff S. Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology. 2016 May;123(5):1036-42. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2016.01.006. Epub 2016 Feb 11. PMID: 26875007. "Retinal DA, released in response to light, is a stop signal for homeostatic control of myopic eye growth. Thus, exposure to bright light may be an environmental intervention to control myopia development by increasing DA levels in the retina." Zhou X, Pardue MT, Iuvone PM, Qu J. Dopamine signaling and myopia development: What are the key challenges. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2017 Nov;61:60-71. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2017.06.003. Epub 2017 Jun 7. PMID: 28602573; PMCID: PMC5653403. “Outdoor interventions effectively contributed to the prevention and control of myopia in children and adolescents, positively impacting spherical equivalent refraction, axial length, and myopia incidence.” Mei Z, Zhang Y, Jiang W, Lam C, Luo S, Cai C, Luo S. Efficacy of outdoor interventions for myopia in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Front Public Health. 2024 Aug 13;12:1452567. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1452567. PMID: 39193200; PMCID: PMC11347293. "[A]pproximately 90 minutes per day of additional time spent outdoors was associated with a 50% lower risk of developing myopia." He M, Xiang F, Zeng Y, Mai J, Chen Q, Zhang J, Smith W, Rose K, Morgan IG. Effect of Time Spent Outdoors at School on the Development of Myopia Among Children in China: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2015 Sep 15;314(11):1142-8. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.10803. PMID: 26372583.