Mobile games cause symptoms of dry eyes and reduce blinking frequency – study

A study conducted among Australian schoolchildren showed that dry eye symptoms worsen after one hour of playing on a smartphone. The researchers studied mobile games because of the high prevalence of smartphones as a gaming platform.

The blink rate decreased significantly from 21 blinks per minute to 9. In addition, the interval between blinks increased from 3 seconds to just under 9 seconds during the first minute of play. The study was published in the journal Eye.

The prevalence of digital device use among children has increased dramatically. Among these devices, smartphones have become the most widespread. In the United States, 83% of children have a smartphone at the age of 15, and this trend is mirrored around the world.

Children often spend several hours on digital devices, which is a cause for concern among healthcare professionals.

Excessive screen time on digital devices has negative consequences for children’s health. Studies show that prolonged screen time is associated with accelerated progression of myopia (nearsightedness) in both children and adolescents.

The study’s author, Ngozi Charity Chidi-Egboka, and her colleagues wanted to examine the effect of one hour of smartphone use on blinking, dry eye symptoms, and tear film indices in school-age children.

The study involved 36 children aged 6 to 15 years from the main campus of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and its surrounding area, the majority of whom were girls (22 participants).

To take part in the study, the children visited the researchers’ laboratory where they were asked to play games on an iPhone 5 for an hour without interruption. The games chosen were Despicable Me: Minion Rush and Racing Penguin were chosen.

Before and during the game, participants wore a monocular eye tracking headset to monitor their blink rate. In addition, the researchers assessed tear film function before and after the game.

Participants also completed three questionnaires to assess symptoms: an instantaneous survey, a dry eye symptom score, and a numerical rating scale.

The results showed that the tear film function did not change during the game. After 1 hour of play, the tear film function was more or less the same as at baseline. In contrast, the ocular symptoms measured by the questionnaires worsened significantly.

Measurements of blinking activity showed that in the first minute of playing the smartphone game, the blink rate dropped significantly compared to the rates they had when talking to the researchers before starting the game. Before the study, participants blinked an average of 21 times per minute. During the game, this figure was slightly less than 9 blinks per minute.

The time interval between two blinks also increased from 3 seconds before the game started to just under 9 seconds during the first minute of the game. It remained unchanged throughout the game period. The ocular symptoms reported by the children were not related to blink rate.

“Smartphone use in children results in symptoms of dry eyes and an immediate and sustained slowing of blinking, with no change in tear production within the first hour. Given the widespread use of smartphones by children, further studies should investigate whether the effects described here persist or worsen over time, causing cumulative damage to the ocular surface,” the authors concluded.

The study sheds light on changes in eye behavior during smartphone gaming. However, as the authors themselves note, it remains unknown whether these effects are temporary and disappear as soon as the gaming session is stopped, or whether they persist. Also, the results presented do not allow us to draw conclusions about the long-term effects of smartphone use.

The authors of the article “Smartphone gaming causes symptoms of dry eyes and reduces blink rate in school-age children” are Ngozi Charity Chidi-Egboka, Isabelle Jalbert and Blanca Golebiowski.