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Me and my children have found that nearsightedness gets worse pretty quickly if we read a lot of paper-printed material. But reading from a computer screen seem

Me and my children have found that nearsightedness gets worse pretty quickly if we read a lot of paper-printed material. But reading from a computer screen seems much less harmful. We also have reading glasses that are about 2 diopters weaker than our distance (driving) glasses. Anecdotal of course. I don't know anyone else who's claimed that reading a backlit computer screen is better than reading a printed book. I don't know how (non-backlit) e-paper compares.

fy20 5y ago
> We also have reading glasses that are about 2 diopters weaker than our distance (driving) glasses. I've been wearing glasses for 18 years. My prescription peaked around -3.75. Last year I got the usual eye strain suggesting my prescription needed changing, so I went to an optician and they suggested a stronger prescription: -0.5 more in each eye, and quite a strong change in astigmatism. I was a bit skeptical as usually when my prescription changed before it was -0.25 in one eye or the other, and I could still read mostly ok, just after a long day my eyes were tired. They insisted it was correct, so I ordered the glasses but when I got them I couldn't read a computer screen for more than 15 minutes without lots of eye strain. I went back to them, they tested my eyes again and said everything was fine and I just need to get used to it... Right. After that I went to an eye hospital where they do laser surgery as they do much more extensive testing. They said my eyes were perfectly healthy, but the issue was the that the prescription opticians gave me was for distance use, not for computer use. I was a bit flabbergasted at first - you are telling me for the last 18 years opticians have been giving me the wrong prescription?!?! They suggested -3.25 for computer use, and to keep my old -3.75 glasses for driving. Sure enough, I can see computer screens perfectly fine with these glasses and no eye strain.
- the_d3f4ult 5y ago
  The opticians weren't deceiving you. As we age our natural lens loses its pliability and we're no longer able to accommodate enough to read things that are up close. It's helpful to understanding the eyes' ability to focus distance (plano or flat) light and its ability to focus near (diverging light) as independent processes. The change in astigmatism they noted is likely related to changes in your natural lens caused by the same process.
AnonHP 5y ago
Disclaimer: I’m not a professional in this area. I recall reading that one of the causes for myopia, from an environmental and habit perspective, is reading in low light. Having sufficient lighting available reduces the strain on the eyes and could prevent or reduce the development of myopia. You could perhaps look at increasing the lighting when you read printed papers or reading them in a natural sunlit environment with hardly any shadows.

fy20 5y ago

> We also have reading glasses that are about 2 diopters weaker than our distance (driving) glasses. I've been wearing glasses for 18 years. My prescription peaked around -3.75. Last year I got the usual eye strain suggesting my prescription needed changing, so I went to an optician and they suggested a stronger prescription: -0.5 more in each eye, and quite a strong change in astigmatism. I was a bit skeptical as usually when my prescription changed before it was -0.25 in one eye or the other, and I could still read mostly ok, just after a long day my eyes were tired. They insisted it was correct, so I ordered the glasses but when I got them I couldn't read a computer screen for more than 15 minutes without lots of eye strain. I went back to them, they tested my eyes again and said everything was fine and I just need to get used to it... Right. After that I went to an eye hospital where they do laser surgery as they do much more extensive testing. They said my eyes were perfectly healthy, but the issue was the that the prescription opticians gave me was for distance use, not for computer use. I was a bit flabbergasted at first - you are telling me for the last 18 years opticians have been giving me the wrong prescription?!?! They suggested -3.25 for computer use, and to keep my old -3.75 glasses for driving. Sure enough, I can see computer screens perfectly fine with these glasses and no eye strain.

the_d3f4ult 5y ago
The opticians weren't deceiving you. As we age our natural lens loses its pliability and we're no longer able to accommodate enough to read things that are up close. It's helpful to understanding the eyes' ability to focus distance (plano or flat) light and its ability to focus near (diverging light) as independent processes. The change in astigmatism they noted is likely related to changes in your natural lens caused by the same process.

AnonHP 5y ago

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional in this area. I recall reading that one of the causes for myopia, from an environmental and habit perspective, is reading in low light. Having sufficient lighting available reduces the strain on the eyes and could prevent or reduce the development of myopia. You could perhaps look at increasing the lighting when you read printed papers or reading them in a natural sunlit environment with hardly any shadows.