Computers

Do your eyes ever feel tired when you’ve been looking at a computer screen or a games console for ages? A lot of people find that after a while their eyes start to feel itchy or red and some people even start seeing double for a short time after they’ve used the computer! All this can’t be good for your eyes. In fact, American scientists have found that a lot of schoolchildren - as many as three in every ten! - are causing stress to their eyes by using the computer too much. To be on the safe side, why not take a break after completing a level, just to give your eyes a rest before the next one?

This is an image of one of the screens from the EyeKon programme; it shows a cartoon of a bee with a map, trying to find the flower. The text explains that; the bee is sensitive to ultraviolet light and can see special honey-guide markings on the petal of flowers which point the way to the nectar.

Some problems are caused by bad positioning of the computer screen, or the keyboard, or the chair, or sometimes all three. Sometimes there’s too much light bouncing off the screen, which over time starts to hurt the eyes, even without you noticing.

Apart from making sure that everything is in the right position, one of the best ways you can avoid eye problems is by taking short breaks every so often. All you have to do is look away from your screen roughly every hour. Try to focus on different objects that are close up and far away. Get your eyes used to not looking at the screen. Once your eyes feel normal again, you can turn back to your computer. If you’re playing computer games, make sure you use that pause button - regular breaks are more likely to make you a better player!

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