>but it rankles me a bit when the term "epidemic" is used to describe widespread conditions that are not communicable/infectuous but short sightedness caused b

>but it rankles me a bit when the term "epidemic" is used to describe widespread conditions that are not communicable/infectuous but short sightedness caused by lack of sunlight exposure is infectuous. why do you think kids are being kept at home? because of their parents. and why do the parents keep them at home? because of a cultural and societal shift in behavior. and why is this shift happening? because some ideas floating around have infected a large enough number of people. human ideas (or memes if you like) are precisely like viruses, and if short-sightedness is caused by some ideas being spread then it's no different than it being an actual virally caused disease.