Live data from Hacker News

Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

economist.com

271–280 of 424 posts

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#271
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only Americans are afraid of wisdom teeth. 90 percent of the rest of the world keep them with no problems whatsoever. (Something something medical cartel...)

Where you got that from? They are surgically removed outside of USA regularly when they grow bad and cause infections.

I think the difference is the US is very likely to remove them preemptively.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#272

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!

In earlier years, this was correlated with highly giftedness, because IQ kids used to suck in more information which means reading a lot: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19127804/ ;)

"nerds wear glasses, study finds"

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#273

I read the title and immediately agreed, but i had misinterpreted "short-sightedness" as the inability to consider the long-term effects of our choices and habits, at least to the effect of making positive changes, rather than the ocular deficiency.

First I have ever encountered the term used in this context. Have always understood it to be near-sightedness, but that may just be cultural.

Short-sighted, near-sighted, and myopic mean the same thing. Both short-sighted and myopic are often used figuratively (to mean acting on short-term interests without considering long-term effects) while near-sighted seldom is.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#274
post #156

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.

Staring at a book or a chess set has the exact same effect.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#275

In my early teens I had 20/15 vision. By the time I went to college I was wearing glasses for nearsightedness. I'm pretty sure it's because I got interested in computers, and started spending all day staring 3ft ahead instead of glancing around outdoors. Some friends in my computer science program passed around each other's glasses and found we all had nearly the same prescription. That didn't seem like a coincidence…

I got my first computer at 10, was 20/40 vision at 16 and am probably around 20/80 right not.

Honestly I'm glad that I am now that I'm in my 40s. Without glasses or contacts, I can read something right up against my nose. Makes it so much easier to work on electronics and other small items - I just take my glasses off and I see up close perfectly well.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#276
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, reading is usually done indoors.

Yes; among other reasons, sunlight reflecting off the white pages of a book is bright enough to injure your eyes. The basic Kindle model is grey and can be comfortably read in sunlight, and yet somehow people are convinced that the "PaperWhite" model is better...

The Paperwhite is called that because it has background lighting via weak LEDs.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#277

I read the title and immediately agreed, but i had misinterpreted "short-sightedness" as the inability to consider the long-term effects of our choices and habits, at least to the effect of making positive changes, rather than the ocular deficiency.

Same. And opening the page and seeing that it talks about myopia is a surprise

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#278
When I was a kid, we had a "no TV when the sun is up" rule. That included computer screens, which were literally TVs when I was a kid. Of course I violated that rule when my parents weren't looking, but for the most part I spent a lot of time playing outside, especially in summer.

This is of course anecdotal, but I'm 45 and still don't need glasses.

I'm trying to do the same with my kids, but sometimes it's just too easy to hand them an iPad when I want to get something done....

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#279

I read the title and immediately agreed, but i had misinterpreted "short-sightedness" as the inability to consider the long-term effects of our choices and habits, at least to the effect of making positive changes, rather than the ocular deficiency.

The same, only reason I clicked the link.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#280

I read the title and immediately agreed, but i had misinterpreted "short-sightedness" as the inability to consider the long-term effects of our choices and habits, at least to the effect of making positive changes, rather than the ocular deficiency.

No post body was provided.
Post reply on HN