Colonial War Memorial Hospital’s Eye Clinic Head of Department, Doctor Luisa Cikamatana says longer smartphone use can be linked to an increase in vision impairment such as myopia or short-sightedness.

Spending more than 20 minutes on your smartphone, computer, television screen and any other device is not healthy for your eyesight.

Colonial War Memorial Hospital’s Eye Clinic Head of Department, Doctor Luisa Cikamatana says longer smartphone use can be linked to an increase in vision impairment such as myopia or short-sightedness.

Doctor Cikamatana says there are exercises one can do to avoid such cases.

“If someone is doing mere work, we encourage them to follow the 20/20/20 rule, where after 20 minutes, they just look up at a distance of 20 feet or six feet, just to look at the horizon for 20 seconds. It will help relax the muscles.”

Dr Cikatamana says while no recent study has been conducted in Fiji on the relationship between smartphone use and eyesight disorders, people still need to take precautions.

She says studies overseas have shown that exposure to bright lights from any source including mobile phones can trigger disorders such as epilepsy.