Computer screen time is damaging eyes — especially for children

In the United States and other countries, monitoring eye health isn’t a major public health priority, particularly when in the grips of a pandemic. This isn’t the case in China, where I spend a lot of my time — there, eye health is more closely watched, particularly in children. And troubling trends are emerging: A January study of more than 120,000 children in China found that the rate of myopia (nearsightedness, or trouble seeing things at a distance) among children ages 6 to 8 increased markedly during a home confinement period, when schools closed from January through May because of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Among 6-year-olds, the rate of myopia following lockdown was 21.5 percent; before covid-19, the highest yearly rate in that age group since 2015 was 5.7 percent.