Title:
How Much Screen Time Is Too Much for Children?
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
Children can spend hours a day looking at computer
screens and other digital devices. Some eye care
professionals say all that screen time has led to an
increase in what they call computer vision
syndrome.Nathan Bonilla-Warford is an optometrist in
Tampa, Florida, with VSP, Vision Service Plan, a big
insurance provider. He says, "I see a lot more
children who are coming into the office either
because their parents have noticed that they have
headaches or red or watery eyes or discomfort, or
because their prescription, their near-sightedness,
appears to be increasing at a fast rate and they're
worried." Dr. Bonilla-Warford says part of the
problem is that children may be more likely than
adults to ignore early warning signs. "Even if their
eyes start to feel uncomfortable or they start to
get a headache, they're less likely to tell their
parents, because they don't want to have the game or
the computer or whatever taken away." He says
another part of the problem is that people blink
less often when they use digital devices. "The
average person who uses a computer or an electronic
device blinks about a third as much as we normally
do in everyday life." So the front part of the eye
gets dry. Eye doctors offer suggestions like
following what is known as the 20/20/20 rule. "Every
twenty minutes, look away twenty feet or more for at
least twenty seconds from whatever device you're
using." Twenty feet -- that's six meters. Other
suggestions include putting more distance between
you and the device and using good lighting. Of
course, you could also spend less time looking at
screens. Many experts say children should spend no
more than two hours a day using digital devices --
with no screen time for children under two. But not
all eye doctors have noticed an increase in problems
in children. Dr. David Hunter says he has not seen
an increase in his practice as a pediatric
ophthalmologist at Children's Hospital Boston. He
also serves as a spokesman for the American Academy
of Ophthalmology.Dr. Hunter thinks calling it a
syndrome, as in computer vision syndrome, is a
little much. He says the real problem is simple.
"Spending too much time in one place, focusing on
one thing." And while this might be tiring to the
eyes, he says, "there's certainly no evidence that
it actually causes any damage to the eyes." For VOA
Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
