Working From Home: How to Protect Your Eyes from Excessive Screentime

It’s no new information that getting excessive screentime is bad for your eyes. That is, when you stare at your phone, laptop, television screen, iPad, etc. for too long, you could do more harm than good to your eyes. At the very least, you might get eye fatigue from excessive strain. In the worst-case scenario, you might get permanent damage to your eyes.

Now, it is understandable if you can’t exactly stop yourself from getting excessive screentime because you need to work. However, there are a few ways to protect your eyes from getting any more damage than they already have. They are:

1. Get a screen protector with an anti-glare feature

Most smartphones have some sort of screen protector customized to help reduce the amount of light that gets into your eyes. By taking the blue light down a notch, these transparent but slightly tinted frames of anti-glare screen protectors help you to protect your eyes. A close alternative is an application that filters out blue light for you.

2. Blink often

This is incredibly important when you’re using a laptop or a desktop. It helps to moisturize your eyes and prevent any irritation that could occur otherwise. An alternative way to moisturize is to splash your face with water as it helps to do the job too. Perhaps, not as excellently as the natural biological mechanisms in place for that function. But, it does the job well enough. Just make sure that the water is clean and doesn’t pose any risk to your eyes.

3. Look at something else

Your eyes aren’t meant to get excessive screentime at close range. These little balls of vision in your face were initially intended to make alternations between staring at long-distance objects and short distance objects. So, as much as you can, while working, do your best to look at something else very often. A good idea would be to stare into the horizon for twenty seconds after you’ve spent a while working on your screen. Don’t use the fact that you’re working in your room as an excuse. Unless it’s rainy or dark, you can get away from your laptop, go outside and simply stare at the sky. It’s good for your eyes and the movement will help prevent early damage to your skeletal system.

4. Maintain appropriate distance

Your phone, laptop, and/or television aren’t meant to be right in front of your face. Putting them there is as unhealthy as it is ridiculous. So, learn to keep your phone at the right distance from your face at all times. It helps to reduce the risk of hurting your eyes when you’re using it.

5. Turn down the brightness in the dark

If you’re working from home, there’s a good chance that you’re working at night too. We don’t know why, but there’s this angel of inspiration that always seems to come down when the lights go off, and everything else is dark. However, if you must use your gadgets at night, make sure to keep the brightness low. If possible, use light mode. It’ll help ensure that your eyes don’t have to absorb all the blue light that comes from your laptop or phone screen.

Final Thoughts

Right now, things are still pretty fine, and your vision is actually top-notch. However, this might not always be the case if you do not take care of your eyes properly. If you’d like to avoid future challenges, it might be a good idea to start now by following our tips.