Is human eyesight getting worse?

Take a break from your screen after reading this. Spending too long looking at things close-up might be making us shortsighted.


Asked by: Tony Hersh, Newbury

Shortsightedness (myopia) certainly is. There has been an epidemic of myopia in the last 100 years and a third of adults in the US and 90 per cent of adults in Taiwan now need to wear corrective lenses. Myopia is inherited, but the reason for the recent increase seems to be more time spent indoors looking at close objects, especially books and screens.

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