How to Protect Your Eyes from Computer & Mobile Screens

If you’re reading this article, chances are you probably spend most of your time in front of a computer screen. Maybe you have a desk job where staring at a computer screen from 9-to-5 is part of your daily work routine.

Or maybe you’re more of a mobile phone user where you often find yourself addicted to social networks and staring at your phone’s screen all day.

Correct?

While there is not much wrong with that since this mundane activity (aka staring at screens all day) is part of our modern life, there is really nothing we can about this.

However, staring at computer screens all day can have many serious health issues such as dry eyes, aching, eye strain.

There is no way around it — staring at your computer or phone screen for extended periods of time will negatively affect your eyes. But the problem is there is nothing much that you can do about this, you can’t just stop looking at electronic device screens, they’re everywhere.

But luckily, there are several things that you can do to help reduce the health risks associated with staring at electronic screens your day.

Blink more often

Whether you realize it or not, we tend to blink a lot less often when looking at computer screens, this is mainly because we want to focus on what we’re looking at, which results in those sharp-looking eye expressions and fewer eye blinks.

When you blink less often, your eyes start to become dry which leads to irritation and that swelling feeling in your eyes at the end of the day.

While you can treat dry eyes with some eye drops and other medication, it is best to consciously focus some of your attention on blinking more often while looking at computer screens. Blinking helps keep your eyes wet which results in less eye irritation and dry symptoms.

Take more breaks

Sounds easy, right? but not really. Most people will often find themselves gazing at their computer or mobile screens for prolonged periods of time without taking any short breaks.

I’m sure you have probably heard of the 20-20-20 rule, it’s one of the most helpful methods for reducing eye strain. Basically for every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away, and for 20 seconds.

If you’re wondering if there is a free software out there that could remind you of this rule, then you can use free software to protect your vision. Just make sure you do it more often and stick to the rule, believe me, your eyes will thank you for this.

Holding your smartphone away

If you’re one of those people who always have their phones stuck to their faces, then your eyes must hate you for this.

Do yourself (and your eyes) a favor and hold your phone a little bit farther away from you, this will help keep harmful phone lights away from your eyes, and will make your eyes less dry as a result.

Use eye protection software

Since you’re already using your computer or mobile phone all day, you may as well stay there and use a digital software designed to protect your eyes from the dangers of constant staring on computer screens.

There are many eye protection software out there, for example, there’s a popular one called f.lux, which helps filter excessive blue light from your computer screen automatically according to the time of the day. Because according to numerous studies, exposure to blue light can damage your eye neurons and restrict the release of melatonin.

Hence, reducing or filtering blue light from your computer screen (especially at night) will greatly help protect your eyes from eye strain and help you sleep better.

Pro tip: some mobile phones have a built-in blue light filter feature, but if yours don’t, you can use this app for your mobile phones.