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Computers Linked to Glaucoma?
An anonymous reader writes "Maybe we should have listened to our parents and gone outside instead of playing video games. In newly published study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, heavy computer users were 74% more likely to develop visual field problems as compared baseline in a group of 10,202 randomly selected workers. Furthermore, heavy computer users were found to be 81% more likely to develop glaucoma."
Nothing for you to see here.
Is anyone else having trouble reading the article?
Hmmm, I can think of a good cure for that. Actually, many video game players already self-treat this condition.
And we all know what helps Glaucoma... right? Always reminds me of the classic Simpsons episode. All the pretty colors, huge donuts, and of course flying to work and then forgetting about everything. Ahh.. I can't wait!
Hmmm.
And what they were doing while they were looking at it.
Mom was right, it really does make you go blind
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My eyes! The googles do nothing!
Very ironically, heavy computer users also consume more marijuana, offsetting the glaucoma problem ;-)
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
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Class action baby. Let's sue the hell out of the monitor manufacturers. This will be bigger than aesbestos and silicone implants combined!
Large sections of the population use computers heavily.
Ergo large sections of the population may develop glaucoma..
Ergo Large sections of the population will have an interest in legalizing marijuana as a cheap means to treat the problem
Ergo the Libertarians now have a drawing card to people who would otherwise find the whole thing a bit kookie.
Trying to use sarcasm in text-based forums does not work.
For a non-slashdotted link to information on Glaucoma: clicketie-click
I'm not sure if it's sitting at the computer so much as what they do while sitting at the computer.
See, they always told you you'd go blind.
The bastards. Could they have told us this AFTER I finished winning Doom3, HALO, and HL2? Crap. And I don't have vision insurance right now.
Fuck it -- my wife says I'm good at groping around for things in the dark. I'll survive.
IronChefMorimoto
that with the explosive growth of the internet, porn is rampant leading to an explosion of hair growth in hand palms.
I'm thinking folks who work on computers for long periods of time just may fall into a couple stereoypes. Glasses wearing and/or overweight/out-of shape. (I know sitting at a computer all hours doesn't do much for my physical fitness)
People of shape are going to risk a higher rate of diabetes, which is a risk factor for glaucoma. Being nearsighted is also a risk factor.
http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/001620.htm
The story is /.'ed, so I haven't read it... did they compare staring at LCDs vs CRTs? I know LCDs are easier on the eyes...
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I can only speak for my own experience, and I don't know whether this study differentiates between CRT and LCD users, but when I first became a programmer using a CRT for 3 or 4 years straight, my eyesight deteriorated rapidly from 20 / 20 to needing glasses to read comfortably without getting headaches. Since switching to a dual LCD setup my prescription hasn't changed in about 2 years.
Your mileage may vary. But I'll never use a CRT again.
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IHNRTFA (I have not read the f-in article), but it seems to me this is yet another case of the misuse of statistics. Just because X% of PopulationY happens to also be in PopulationZ doesn't imply a causal relationship in any specific direction. It's just as likely that the real reason for the link is the opposite of what they suppose: that persons who have the genetic defects and/or environmental factors in their lives which lead to a higher rate of glaucoma are more likely to be computer users....
11*43+456^2
1. Did they control for the fact that people who use computers heavily are more likely to be sedentary. Could this lifestyle lead to increased diabetes and related vision problems (don't know about glaucoma)
2. Did they control for the possibility that people with vison problems or other problems originally might be less outgoing and likely to interact with others? What demographic uses computers heavily compared to the mainstream?
I know my distance vision has deteriorated from heavy computer usage, but I'd like to see whether glaucoma is caused by staring at a screen... or some other aspect of computer usage, like chronic inflammation from Carpal Tunnel or somthing like that.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
The authors haven't broken down the type of computer use at all. It'd be interesting to see where the aetiology lies - extended use without blinking (eg gamers), bad lighting conditions (oh, gamers again), LED vs CRT use etc.
I think this has more to do with heavy computer use promoting a sedentary lifestyle which is one cause of higher blood pressure than any direct affect computer monitors have on our eyes.
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the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Gosh I hope you're joking. Either that or you don't understand the word "likelihood". Your one counterexample does not mean that the research is no longer valid.
Every company I've worked for in the UK has offered free eye tests to heavy computer users (and has done for some time now). A study like this can only encourage this practice becoming wider-spread. One of the things I've been tested for in the past has been glaucoma too.
-- now where did I put that
French-speakers are far more likely to live in the France than the average person. Therefore, if you don't want to live in France you should make sure not to learn French.
*sigh*
Ive been a heavy computer user for about 17 years now, the early signs of Glaucoma appeared in June of this year....cant tell you how scary it is thinking you might end up blind...thankfully I caught it soon so currently getting monthly check ups and using some steroid eye drops to calm it. Not saying its because of computers, just saying I fit the profile that the article is stating. BTW> a non slashdotted link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4008185.stm
Laptop Reviews
Every hour or so for you sitting at your machine, sit back and close your eyelids, and completly relax and unfocus your eyes. Every night before you go to sleep, completly unfocus your eyes until you fall asleep. This will alleviate the pressure inside of the eye long enough for some of the fluid to drain and pressure to decrease, and will help combat the feeling that the moniter really isn't there nor are the words and the occasional difficulty reading them, or as I call it, virtual nausea, which tends to develope after a few thousand hours of using a computer without stopping for much. This is what I do, and it really helps to keep me focused. If you like meditation, it can really help you get focued and keep you from having problems seeing things. Anyone who games really should learn it. The other reccomendation, is to have a nice view to look at outside the window so you aren't always looking at the moniter, preferably by a strip club or beach or somethin ;).
Candy-Coated Knowledge
Your mother warned you about this. Playing with your joystick will make you go blind.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
I was living in Taiwan in the nineties and doing tons of computer work on a little 15" monitor for weeks on end. My eyes were seriously going out. It was quite obvious. I was having trouble focusing.
So, there were all these Chinese medicine shops around where I lived and I decided to go in and ask for some herbs or accupuncture.
I got a Chinese friend to go with me and I communicated to the Doc that my eyes were going blurry from using the computer constantly.
The guy told me --stop using the computer.
I was impressed with his skill.
Well, that's because a CRT is basically an HDTV -- it shows you a high res image that doesn't actually exist, but is rather an optial illusion produced by scintillations of beta radiation on phosphors. The screen is thick and has lead in it so the beta particles don't get out and cause any problems associated with small quantities of radiation.
That's probably why LCDs produce less eye strain -- the image is actually there (having been created by the electricity activating the liquid crystals) and it's where you perceive it as being. It's got a fluorescent light behind it in most modern cases, and that's why you can use it in the dark -- non-backlit LCDs depend on available darkness.
Great, another activity which makes you blind:-)
The study seems flawed in manny respects.
The glaring one is that is did not study a single population over time. They are assuming, or implying, causation here and I don't see any reasonable evidence of that with their two, unrelated groups method. It might be that people who are visially impaired tend to gravitate toward jobs where their eyesight is not critical to success. It might not be that computer work causes eye problems, but people with eye problems tend to do computer work.
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groping around in the dark in games will only halve your half life, spell doom for and finally leave you floating through the level with a halo :) ...except ofcourse in The Sims 2...it would get u a hot date there :)
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