The Dangers of Blue Light from Smartphones for Our Eyes

How long do you usually use your smartphone every day? Besides having several benefits, blue light has many harms to our eyes when you stare at it for too long, especially from your smartphone.

What is Blue Light?

Blue light is a color in a visible light spectrum that can be seen by our eyes. Unlike other forms of light, the eyes cannot effectively filter blue light, so it can pass through to the retina. Blue light makes up about one-third of all visible light. The sun is the biggest source of blue light. Artificial sources of blue light include fluorescent light and screens.

Blue Light from Smartphone

Blue light exposure from smartphones and any other electronics are smaller compared to exposure from sunlight. However, it can be worse since we see smartphones for a long time and sometimes the screens are too close to our eyes.

According to Rescue Time, most people spent 3 hours and 15 minutes on average. And 1 in 5 smartphone users spends upwards of 4.5 hours on average on their phones.

How It Danger Our Eyes

Our eyes are not great for blocking blue lights. Constant exposure to blue lights can damage our eyes severely. That includes damage to retinal cells. Constant exposure to blue light can also cause vision problems. It also contributes to eye cancer and cataracts. According to a vision study by the National Eye Institute, children are more at risk than adults because children’s eyes absorb more blue light from digital devices than adults.

How To Avoid It

There are numerous ways to limit and avoid blue light such as using blue light filters and reducing time spent on smartphones and many electronic devices that emit blue light. You can also Practice the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes or so, stop what you’re doing on that screen and shift your gaze 20 feet away and focus on an object for 20 seconds. You can also blink your eyes quickly 20 times after that for an added refresher.