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Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

economist.com

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Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#171

Post by PeterisP »

coffeeblack wrote: post #49
Fordec wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Short answer, yes. Long answer, you'll need to really jack up the power consumption. Replicating a thing that in itself an energy source needs waaaay more than just a 60W light bulb.

60W would be some 10 LED lights that each are 100W equivalents to old glow lights. That would probably already do the trick in a small room. Do people really still use old “light bulbs”?

> 60W would be some 10 LED lights that each are 100W equivalents to old glow lights. That would probably already do the trick in a small room.

Not really, daylight is not 10 times but much more brighter than a 100w incandescent lamp, such illumination (e.g. it has certain uses to help seasonal depression) exists but it's very bright compared to normal indoors lighting.

The old 100w lamps were ~1600 lumens; outdoors daylight is something like 10k lumens/square meter in shade (direct sunlight would be another order of magnitude more), and an appropriate number for the surfaces of a small room would be in the ballpark of 100 of such LEDs so 600w of electricity.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#172

Post by bigmealbigmeal »

mikewarot wrote: post #126

Pet peeve about language use: I thought it was obvious that short-sightedness (Exclusively Short term thinking) is an epidemic, nobody on Wall Street can see past the next Quarter's numbers. I don't need the economist to point that out. Nearsightedness is what this article is about... a completely different thing. I've dealt with that my entire life... and just went through the knock-on effect of retina detachment, a…

> I strongly suspect the amount of light outdoors is NOT really the issue. If you're always focused on things close at hand (as the above mentioned folks on wall street), you never allow the eyes to focus on the far horizon for an appreciable fraction of the time.

Then you need to read more on the matter.

Studies on chicks, tree shrews and rhesus monkeys show that simply increasing the amount of indoor light intensity has a protective effect on myopia. Scientists can induce more myopia in chicks simply by reducing light intensity. See https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2164963 and https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2355431

The leading hypothesis is that light stimulates the release of dopamine in the retina, and the dopamine blocks the elongation of the eye during development. One study showed that injecting a dopamine-inhbiting drug into the eyes of chicks abolished the protective effect of bright light, and myopia increased. See https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2126968

Your particular confidence on this ("strongly suspect") bothers me because it has an influence on others, yet it is totally ignorant of what current scientific findings suggest.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#173

Post by eastbound »

saurik wrote: post #131
occamrazor wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming that it’s technically practical, the results would be very unsettling: the phone screen would look like a window with the content “behind “ the window, very far away.

I doubt that effect would be very strong as the effect of a magic eye massively dominates any feeling we have to notice that our eyes aren't having to do as much of whatever you'd call this lensing work.

…But geometric aberrations might be annoying: The image is perfect in the center but blurry/rainbowed 10° from the center, etc.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#174

Post by lr1970 »

idlehand wrote: post #132
lr1970 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or do you seriously believe all prehistoric humans had 20/20 eyesight? The prehistoric realities were harsh and nearsighted individuals had little chances of survival and procreation (natural selection). In the modern society perfect eye-sight is not as important for survival as in the prehistoric society, thus more tolerance to its greater variability.

Sunlight exposure has been shown to be protective of eyesight, and we spend more time indoors focusing on screens. The timespan is too short for evolution to have had a considerable impact.

> The timespan is too short for evolution to have had a considerable impact.

I am not talking about evolution as in developing new species but about survivability of naturally occurring variations. Modern humanity timespan is not enough in developing new genetic traits but long enough to alter effects of natural selection. BTW, due to advances in medicine nowadays we have children born and survive into adulthood with medical conditions that were terminal just 100 years ago. Survival variability (in developed world) is much broader that it was in recent historic past (e.g. middle-ages). This is a plain fact.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#175

Post by Hellicio »

tominous wrote: post #149

Almost all children are born hypermetropic (far-sighted). The growth of the eyeball is calibrated by the amount of defocus (blur) experienced. More defocus, more growth, which reduces hypermetropia. My hypothesis is that less sunlight means wider pupils and more defocus (contrast to a pinhole camera), so more eye growth. Even with perfect eyesight, there's a 2-diopter difference between focussing blue light and red l…

Mine is genetic.

I have very similiar values than my mother.

So i'mnot sure if / how your theory is correct or not.

Also there are a lot of normal people in the world who live outside and also don't have perfect eye sight at all. This goes back a long time.

Can you also elaborate on your 2 diopter difference between red and blue light? For one i find that number very very big but i'm very good in seeing full color without any chromatic aberration.

The effect of your theory would need to be less relevant than other factors.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#176

Post by grapeskin »

ejb999 wrote: post #156
nilsbunger wrote: post #2

I didn’t realize the evidence is strong that daylight keeps kids from becoming near-sighted. Making young kids study all the time is killing their eyesight!

>>Making young kids study all the time is killing their eyesight! reply I very much doubt kids 'studying too much' is the problem - staring at iphones all day watching tiktok and playing video games is more like it.

I’m thinking it’s the heavy metal that the rapscallions these days are hipping and hopping to.

The reality is near-sightedness is a massive problem in countries with insane childhood studying hours, eg all across east Asia.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#177

Post by PebblesRox »

mattlondon wrote: post #57
inglor_cz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we manage to have a kid, long walks everyday are planned :) More movement, less screen time is always good for health, parents' and kids' alike. Also, getting used to all sorts of weather improves the immune system. By spending too much time indoors we are becoming glasshouse flowers.

Good luck with the plan :) Under the age of about 1 to 1.5 then you get to call the shots of what happens when. Walk as mu h as you like. After that age, the kids start to get their own opinions and won't always just do what you want them to do. You may want to go for a long walk, but the kid wants to do something else. They'll spend 95% of the time trying to escape the buggy/stroller or trying to run off or just sit…

Yes, when my oldest was 1 1/2, I took him on a lot of short walks where I had no particular destination in mind. It was great for teaching him sidewalk safety and for giving him freedom to practice whatever gross motor skills he was working on, like climbing up and down steps without holding on to stuff.

Unfortunately I didn't do nearly as much of this kind of walk with his little brother, because it's not safe if your attention is divided between multiple kids.

https://bancosparenting.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/freedom-wit...

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#178

Post by d_tr »

jart wrote: post #41
harshreality wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Myopia is a risk factor for floaters, retinal detachment, and glaucoma. It's objectively not neutral, despite that glasses exist. Glasses are also inconvenient, cost money, can be lost or broken, and don't cover the entire field of vision, and contacts have their own problems.

I can't believe you're serious. I wear glasses and there's nothing wrong with me. Last thing I want is to live in a world where I'm pressured to be genetically engineered for having the wrong kind of eyes.

I have around -10 dioptres in both eyes, like my father. I am also amblyopic. It is a minor inconvenience for me right now, but the risks for serious problems in the future are real.

The problem, if I understand correctly, is that myopia correlates well with eyeball elongation, which puts stress on the retina, thus sharply increasing the risk of macular degeneration and retinal detachment as you get older. Other complications are also more likely to occur.

I was only vaguely aware of this until recently but I am a bit worried now and going to a doctor soon to asses the situation and manage the risks if possible.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#179

Post by itsoktocry »

mikewarot wrote: post #126

Pet peeve about language use: I thought it was obvious that short-sightedness (Exclusively Short term thinking) is an epidemic, nobody on Wall Street can see past the next Quarter's numbers. I don't need the economist to point that out. Nearsightedness is what this article is about... a completely different thing. I've dealt with that my entire life... and just went through the knock-on effect of retina detachment, a…

>nobody on Wall Street can see past the next Quarter's numbers. I don't need the economist to point that out.

This funny to read on a tech oriented website.

I agree that the quarter by quarter financial goals can be a "shortsighted", and I think the problem is even worse when it comes to the 4 year political cycle (2 years if you consider the fact the Houses can change hands).

But Wall Street is still filled to the brim with public companies espousing some future fantasy profits that may or may not ever come. We are as far away from shortsightedness there as we've ever been. One only has to looks at ARKK research to see this.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#180

Post by mattnewton »

shellac wrote: post #154
CydeWeys wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not him, but myopia is the correct medical term. It only has one meaning, whereas "short-sighted" has a widely used metaphorical meaning that it is easily confused with.

From very start of the article: "Leaders | What to do about myopia". However 'myopic' is certainly used metaphorically. This is one of those cases where you just have to read the article.

I would find “Near sightedness less ambiguous, in American English at least. I can’t remember having heard that used for anything other than a physical difficulty to focus your eyes at longer distances.
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