Does staring at the screen hurt your eyes

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Curiosity has led me to ask this question. Does looking at the computer or tv even moderately eventually damage my eyes in the long run? Even if it takes 50-60 years or whatever for it to do so.
 
I think it varies from person to person, but I do believe staring at a screen for too long can cause some amount of damage. At least for me, staring at one for too long can cause some strain and tiredness... and I stare at one all day due to my projects and job.
 
I don't really get headaches from staring at it a trillion hours either. I'm just wondering what happens after a long time or something.
 
I've definitely strained my eyes from looking at screens. Sometimes headaches as well. I wear glasses and turn on eye-care / blue light filters to help with it.
 
With breaks I find it less straining, but from time to time I just need to stop and rest.
 
I should've said I meant permanent damage in some way after multiple days of looking at it even moderately. Not just momentary eyestrain.
 
I read some articles before that said you should look away from a screen for 20 minutes for every hour of consumption. But looking at some articles now, the information seems to vary, though taking a 20 minute break every hour sounds like a decent piece of advice.
 
It depends a lot, I particularly, when I spend a lot of time in front of the TV or the computer, it is normal for me to get a lot of headache.
 
i don't think there's any universal rule for how many breaks everyone should take but i asked the twins about it and they just said take a break whenever you feel you should - physical discomfort, need to do some school or house work, or it's time for bed, or you need to get up and walk for a bit
 
Pretty much what MiracleDinner said. I don't think there's any long-term medical conditions from staring at a screen, but it does cause eyestrain and excessive exposure to blue light can interfere with your ability to sleep, as well as secondary effects from being stuck in a computer for too long such as a strained wrist from using the mouse too much. You should take breaks if you feel like you're staring too much, get up and walk around for a bit.

Think about it this way: a huge amount of people work in a screen as part of their jobs, such as game developers. If there were documented cases of long-term health consequences (mind you, purely from staring at a screen, ignoring other confounding variables such as long hours and crunch periods), the game development jobs would have one of the most extensively documented cases of it, don't you think?
 
Not sure how qualified I am to answer since I have astigmatism, but the most that I have experienced is the occasional headache and straining sensation which usually goes away in a couple of hours.
 
Francis said:
Not sure how qualified I am to answer since I have astigmatism, but the most that I have experienced is the occasional headache and straining sensation which usually goes away in a couple of hours.
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I have minor astigmatism in my right eye as well as my myopia, I don't think staring at a screen would cause it since it's caused by an irregularly shaped cornea or the curvature of the lens inside the eye.
 
iirc staring at close objects for extended time does affect your far-sighted vision to the point you need glasses, so there's a grain of truth to the bookworm wearing glasses. This isn't just a screen, but also books and working on details of some project I'm guessing. The eyesight organizations recommend going outside or just take a break looking at close objects.

But those are for kids. Guess if you're an adult, you're stuck with this vision, as I am.
 
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