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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
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
My eyes! The googles do nothing!
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.
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
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!
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.
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.
That's a nice anecdote. Apparently neither you nor the author understand the difference between correlation and causation.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
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
What was your age at the time of eyesight change and family history of eye problems? In my family, eyesight deteriorates in the teens, but the change levels off in adulthood. My dad hasn't had his prescription changed in many, many years. I still have mine changed every 2-3 years. Correlation != causation, etc.
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.
I think we can all agree that you have other far more important problems if you stare at an LED all day.
It is not "just as likely" that computer workers are, as a group, genetically different from other workers. That there may be "environmental factors" doesn't really make any difference to their conclusion: for some reason, computer workers exhibit a much higher rate of visual problems. Yours is a plausible scenario, but do give the researchers some credit. Grant them the fact that they're eminently more qualified to examine this particular issue than you are, and that it's worth taking their findings seriously, even in light of the fact that their findings aren't carved in stone. Hell, the researchers themselves would likely be among the first to emphasize that their findings are not fact. This is one of the founding tenets of scientific research, for crying out loud.
Simply because John Q. Citizen can fire off a plausible alternative after five seconds' thought does not mean that his theory is "just as likely" to be the case as the result of a published research project.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
It helps you see more. Two of everything!
Martin