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Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

economist.com

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Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#191

Post by _moof »

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 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.

Is it ironic or just poetic that this is a myopic take on the meaning of the word "shortsighted"?

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#192

Post by sandstrom »

For several decades it has been known that myopia (nearsightedness) and intelligence are correlated[1][2]. Initially it was speculated that reading caused nearsightedness, and through that higher intelligence. There is probably some truth to that.

But with modern DNA sequencing techniques researches has found genes that seem to affect both[3][4].

The hypothesis is that one (or a set of) genes affects both eye size growth (myopia is often caused by the eye being "too long") and neocortical size (associated with intelligence).

Although this probably won't surprise anyone in this research field, I recently read about it -- with my non-nearsighted eyes :) -- and found it interesting. So I wanted to share, since it's somewhat related to this topic.

[1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaophthalmology/article-a...

[2] https://europepmc.org/article/med/2904062

[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/srep45977

[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19127804/

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#193

Post by mdp2021 »

just-tom wrote: post #67

As I suggested in the past, it would be helpful to add [PAYWALL] before or after titles for links that have a paywall.

Well, it's The Economist, very evident in the title line (it would be news if they removed the protection). And, incidentally but importantly, it uses a "payfence", not really a paywall.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#194

Post by tmplurkr »

eastbound wrote: post #74

Why can we have 2-lense glasses that move the focus to infinity? ELI5: In opticals, “rays” coming from a near object (=mobile phone) are angled, while rays coming from afar (=end of a landscape) are parallel. The job of pupils is to bend the rays from the focal point ahead to the focal point on the receptors in the eye. The eye is a rest when looking afar, because rays come parallel, and thus there isn’t much to do.…

How would it work? Where would you put the two lenses? Consider:

- You can't really have two lenses cemented together. That'll correct for chromatic aberration but, other than that, the lenses would behave as one (except for deviations from thin lens approx.)

- You can't have glasses mounting two lenses "d" apart for two reasons. 1) Having parallel lenses would terribly uncomfortable, heavy, and awkward 2) More importantly your eye and the two lenses would never be aligned (as soon as you move your focus away from the one spot the glasses were aligned for, the optical system performance would collapse)

- The best you could do, then, is contact lenses + eyeglasses. But then you have all the bother of wearing glasses and eyeglasses. Also, it's not obvious to me it would work since the contact lenses are in contact with your cornea, the pair behaving like a single lens.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#195

Post by danielfoster »

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 also made the same mistake and assumed the article was about shortsighted thinking. But I've also always found the term "nearsighted" to be very confusing as well. I always confuse the meaning with "farsighted," ie not being able to see things near you.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#196

Post by ip26 »

OskarS wrote: post #10
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!

Yeah, I hadn’t heard about this ”daylight” thing either. I’ve been nearsighted since I was a kid, and back then people said I got it because I read to much, focusing on things too close to my face. I thought that was a pretty fair trade-off, since I liked reading, and didn’t particularly mind wearing glasses. This sunlight thing makes a lot of sense though. I kept hearing proposals during the pandemic about holding c…

Interestingly, reading is usually done indoors.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#197

Post by thaumasiotes »

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 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.

Civilizational myopia is not a new phenomenon. It is much older than iphones or video games.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#198

Post by viktoracoric »

sandstrom wrote: post #192

For several decades it has been known that myopia (nearsightedness) and intelligence are correlated[1][2]. Initially it was speculated that reading caused nearsightedness, and through that higher intelligence. There is probably some truth to that. But with modern DNA sequencing techniques researches has found genes that seem to affect both[3][4]. The hypothesis is that one (or a set of) genes affects both eye size gr…

No post body was provided.

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#199

Post by mdp2021 »

GameOfFrowns wrote: post #120
danschuller wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a common figurative use of the word. The etymology comes from the Greek meaning "upon/on people", so nothing in the root connects the meaning to how something develops or spreads.

Then why not call it a "pandemic"? Shortsighteness has become a global phenomenon with more than one local maximum, hasn't it?

From the article: «East Asia has seen a stunning rise in the rate of short-sightedness».

Re: Shortsightedness has become an epidemic

#200

Post by thaumasiotes »

ip26 wrote: post #196
OskarS wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I hadn’t heard about this ”daylight” thing either. I’ve been nearsighted since I was a kid, and back then people said I got it because I read to much, focusing on things too close to my face. I thought that was a pretty fair trade-off, since I liked reading, and didn’t particularly mind wearing glasses. This sunlight thing makes a lot of sense though. I kept hearing proposals during the pandemic about holding c…

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...

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