Two UK women have reportedly been the first to be affected by Smartphone blindness, a temporary condition where the patient is unable to see for a short period of time, usually not exceeding 15 minutes. But this is more than enough to freak people out and lead to anxiety attacks, causing collateral damage. The women feared something much more serious than it actually was and had to go through expensive and tiresome tests to ensure it was caused by nothing but their beloved cell phones and their orthodox habit to use them at a time when their eyes should be resting.
The condition is caused due to using cell phones extensively during the night time and doing so in a manner that keeps one eye fully exposed to the harshness of the blue light and the other in the relative darkness of a pillow or folded bed-sheet. Our eyes are unable to adjust and the exaggerated imbalance causes temporary blindness.
The good news is that the condition is “transient” or temporary. The problem solves itself as our eyes adjust themselves within about 15-20 minutes and return to normal functioning. No permanent effects have been reported as of yet and doctors are optimistic there are no such long-term effects. But this should be no excuse to the problem itself as it is avoidable to say the least. Companies like One Plus, Apple include a “Night Mode” in their user interface to make the display settings more suitable for night use. Apps like twilight have been doing this for quite some time now. Phones are becoming smarter everyday and with tons of features merely for the purpose of showing off, there should be no reason why they shouldn’t include rudimentary features such as Night Mode. More and more phones should have features like this so that people don’t have to go through the stresses of such a condition.
A spokesman from American Academy of Ophthalmology said two cases are simply not enough to substantiate that cell phones cause transient blindness(alone).
The funny thing is, one of the patients didn’t even believe that her condition was caused by cell phones. It was only after she kept a journal and jotted down notes about her blindness episodes that she confirmed the diagnosis. Still, she couldn’t refrain herself from checking her cell phone in bed. This goes to say how much of it is actually self inflicted and not the fault of cell phone manufacturers or any other reason in particular.
Source: Android Authority.
Feel free to check out our article about Eye-care in this screen filled world.
