What They Say
An article in the Economist’s Simply Science series looked in detail at the rising problem of myopia in parts of East Asia and found that in some parts of the region, nearly 80% of children need glasses, up from 25% fifty years ago. The problem is less acute in Europe and the Americas, where the rate is between 20% and 40%
The article said that there is a strong association with education. That’s not because of the education, but because it may be that young eyes need more exposure to sunlight. Tutoring after school may keep children in some cultures out of the sun after school. The article also suggests that there is not a correlation with electronic display use.
What We Think
It’s good news for display makers that this issue does not correlate to screen use.
Displays have often been associated with health issues. I have older family members that tell the children “Don’t sit near the screen”. I recently challenged on as to why she said this. “Because that was what I was told when I was young”. Of course, younger readers may not be aware of the issues of X-Rays from the 10s of KVs in CRTs and the need for large amounts of lead in the front glass of the sets to absorb them. That caused TVs to be viewed as a potential source of danger. (There was also concern over potential problems in fertility from the magnetic fields in scanning coils, but that turned out to be just some statistical anomalies that caused apparent miscarriages.)
There are no such issues with OLEDs and LCDs.
(ps apologies for the delay in releasing this article, I misfiled it!) (BR)
