On average, children spend a staggering seven to eight hours per day on screens, and one expert is warning that we’re not seeing the full picture of these devastating devices.
“Screen time has become the new pandemic and it’s ruining all of our eyes and brains,” Dr. Bryce Appelbaum, board-certified optometrist, tells The Post.
He noted that in addition to cognitive, social and emotional development, screen time negatively affects vision development — and could be partially to blame for the rising cases of behavioral issues.
“We get locked in and collapse our periphery and get this tunnel vision, and then we get the dopamine release in our brain, and it makes us want to come back for more and more,” Appelbaum said.
So yes, screens are addictive — but the problem he’s pinpointed is that they can also impact kids’ still-developing eyes. And when kids have functional vision issues, the doc said, the symptoms can look a lot like ADHD.
What are screens doing to kids’ eyes?
The visual skills needed for screen engagement are vastly different than those needed to engage in a three-dimensional space, he explained.
“Vision is intended to guide our movement, not to be staring at these machines all day long,” he said. “We need to maintain that flexibility. When we’re on screens for too long, our focusing muscles — the inside muscles behind the eyes that make things clear — are literally locked up and under tension.”
According to Appelbaum, these inner muscles are not designed to work that hard for an extended period of time, and tasking them with bearing that load leads to inflexible visual systems and inflexible visual thinking.
“Children don’t have the brain and vision development to handle staring at screens,” he said.
“That’s going to be a kid who has ants in their pants or is listening to the teacher with their ears rather than with their eyes.”
Dr. Bryce Appelbaum
“It’s creating a world of kids with a visual system that’s locked up, causing nearsightedness, mental health and depth perception issues, and poor interpersonal connection because we’re stuck on these 2D devices, inches from our face, blasting all this high-energy light at us.”
Previous research published in JAMA Pediatrics has shown that children should be prohibited from screen time until the age of 3, as it can lead to developmental delays.
But why would vision problems lead to behavioral ones?
Researchers at Drexel University discovered that babies and toddlers who are allowed screen time are more likely to display atypical sensory behaviors associated with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Appelbaum maintains that excessive screen time compromises the development of functional vision, creating a scenario where the eyes don’t work together to support coordination or focus.
Convergence insufficiency — an eye coordination problem that makes it difficult for the eyes to focus on near objects such as books or computer screens — is commonly misdiagnosed as ADD or ADHD-like behavior.
“Somebody that can make their eyes point in the same direction — great. But then after 30 seconds, if they have this fragile coordination, that’s going to be a kid who has ants in their pants or is listening to the teacher with their ears rather than with their eyes,” he said.
A 2024 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed a shocking uptick in ADHD diagnoses among American children.
In contrast to screen-based learning that became ubiquitous during COVID-19 lockdowns, old-school educational practices like copying from the blackboard require the visual flexibility of going from near to far, activating the inner and outer eye muscles to strengthen and work synergistically.
“Reading print requires different eye movements across the page that are more sequenced, methodical and organized than on a screen. With a screen, you can dart your eyes all over the place, take in a lot of the information, but you don’t have the eye movement control needed for other tasks,” he said.
How can parents protect the visual and behavioral health of their children?
Priority number one is limiting screen time. A 2024 study found that reduced daily screen time helped children better process their emotions and improve their social interactions.
Another helpful strategy is to encourage physical activity, blinking and vision breaks during periods of screen use.
“The eyes are a muscle; if you were to squeeze your fists for an extended period of time, after a few seconds, your hands start to hurt. But if you let go and come back and let go and come back, you release that tension.”
Appelbaum noted that digital performance lenses can be a support system for developing eyes as they make it easier for the brain to access and utilize vision.
“If you train the eye-brain connection and make it so that you have robust tracking, focusing, convergence, and visual processing, then screens are less terrible and they’re not going to impact development and life the way they would otherwise.”
Appelbaum maintains that incorporating limits and strategies to protect the eyes guarantees success in the future.
“You can develop the right visual foundation to thrive in this digital world. It just requires a lot of brain and vision training.”
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