Pre-schoolers' eyesight at risk from too many videos
- Source: Global Times
- [13:17 June 07 2010]
- Comments
Wang Ying, an eye expert at Shanghai Peace Eye Hospital, examines a girl Sunday. Photo: Courtesy of Hao Hongmei
By Zhou Ping
Doctors Sunday used 15th National Eye-care Day to warn parents that the increasing trend of using computer and video materials to prepare toddlers for school could be harming their children's eyesight.
"Many parents buy video learning materials to ensure their children won't lag behind their peers, but these may strain children's eyes," Wang Ying, a child eye specialist at Shanghai Peace Eye Hospital, told the Global Times Sunday. Wang added that parents pushing children to learn a musical instrument from a young age could also endanger their eyesight due to the strain involved in reading music.
According to Wang, children are naturally longsighted, and become more normal sighted as they mature. However, increased eyestrain in the early years can quicken this process, resulting in shortsightedness.
"We discourage parents from allowing children under five years old to use comput-ers as their eyes are not ready," Wang added. "Children should rest their eyes after every 20 minutes of watching TV."
However, despite the warnings, some parents believed that it is worth running the risk of harming their child's eyesight in return for giving them an academic leg-up.
"I know it may harm my son's eyesight to let him watch videos on the computer, but I hope that he can learn a little from the teaching material and get prepared for kindergarten," a barber in Hongkou district surnamed Wu told the Global Times Sunday. "Besides, this is the only way to keep him under my watch instead of playing outside with other kids."
His three-year-old son, who starts kindergarten this September, spends over two hours each day watching videos.
Last year, over 27 percent of the city's primary school students suffered from defective vision, rising to over 65 percent for junior middle school students and over 83 percent for senior middle school students, according to Shanghai Eye Pre-vention and Treatment Center.
