I've been staring at computer screens for more like 25 years myself (no congratulations necessary;) ).
Certainly, I've experienced some pretty weird optical things in that time, although my vision is still very good. For instance, when I started full-time IT work about 7 years ago, I was pulling 16 hour days fairly consistently. Even though I'd had pretty heavy computer usage before that job, for about the first 3 weeks into the job, I'd walk outside and find my perception (not vision, I think, but probably more the way my brain was processing the optical input) was oddly distorted... I remember walking around a local shopping mall and seeing everything like it was a computer network. Trippy! (and I wasn't even smoking anything at the time). It also meant that I used to walk around outside for about half an hour before driving, as my distance perception wasn't so hot until I re-adjusted.
I find this happens even today - if I've had a long stint writing code (ie. minimal or no social interaction for 5-10 hours), when I go outside, it takes my other cognitive faculties a while to "switch on".
The point in relation to your original post is this:
Actual physical optical limitations aside, the brain in almost every way operates on a "use it or lose it" basis. The reverse is also true - which is how we develop a high level of skill in something, or indeed habitual behaviour (based on recent cognitive psychology research).
An optician told me once that it's a good idea to deliberately use your long distance vision for about 5-10 minutes for every hour of computer usage. As any decent programmer will know, sometimes those hours pass without one's noticing!
A little exercise I've developed to get around this, which I find has helped immensely, is to go and hang out my street-facing window (I work from an apartment) at the end of the day and watch the pretty girls walk past on their way home. Cheesy, I know, but it works for two reasons:
a) There is an inherent motivating factor;)
b) The process of focussing on a moving "target" is more cognitively complex than, say, just looking away from the computer screen every once in a while. Having something specific to look at, over a long distance, seems to train the eye muscles much better.
As a result, I've had far less eye strain (which I used to notice when finally going to bed), and a reduced "re-integration" effect time when I go out for lunch or whenever.
Hope this helps:)
Often, highly intelligent people mistake their ego for self esteem.
There's a saying in NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) that "the meaning of your communication is the response you get". It's an empowering belief, because it poses the constant challenge to communicate effectively, focusing on an individual's power in any situation to achieve the result they desire. True self esteem will surely follow.
Relevance? To learn social skills, or indeed anything, requires proper motivation. Helping people to understand that they have the power to change social interactions that they don't like must surely be the first step in your process. It's only once someone accepts responsibility for the consequences of their actions that they can start to take charge of the results.
In short: Don't allow your students to make the mistake of believing that their peers or associates are simply too stupid to understand them. In reality, the opposite is true so long as they have a desire for positive social experience and are not achieving that goal.
"For wayfarers of all times, the right strategy for skillfully spreading the way essentially lies in adapting to communicate. Those who do not know how to adapt stick to the letter and cling to the doctrines, get stuck on forms and mired in sentiments - none of them succeed in strategic adaption." - Zhantang (noted Zen master)
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I've been staring at computer screens for more like 25 years myself (no congratulations necessary ;) ).
Certainly, I've experienced some pretty weird optical things in that time, although my vision is still very good. For instance, when I started full-time IT work about 7 years ago, I was pulling 16 hour days fairly consistently. Even though I'd had pretty heavy computer usage before that job, for about the first 3 weeks into the job, I'd walk outside and find my perception (not vision, I think, but probably more the way my brain was processing the optical input) was oddly distorted... I remember walking around a local shopping mall and seeing everything like it was a computer network. Trippy! (and I wasn't even smoking anything at the time). It also meant that I used to walk around outside for about half an hour before driving, as my distance perception wasn't so hot until I re-adjusted.
I find this happens even today - if I've had a long stint writing code (ie. minimal or no social interaction for 5-10 hours), when I go outside, it takes my other cognitive faculties a while to "switch on".
The point in relation to your original post is this:
Actual physical optical limitations aside, the brain in almost every way operates on a "use it or lose it" basis. The reverse is also true - which is how we develop a high level of skill in something, or indeed habitual behaviour (based on recent cognitive psychology research).
An optician told me once that it's a good idea to deliberately use your long distance vision for about 5-10 minutes for every hour of computer usage. As any decent programmer will know, sometimes those hours pass without one's noticing!
A little exercise I've developed to get around this, which I find has helped immensely, is to go and hang out my street-facing window (I work from an apartment) at the end of the day and watch the pretty girls walk past on their way home. Cheesy, I know, but it works for two reasons:
a) There is an inherent motivating factor ;)
b) The process of focussing on a moving "target" is more cognitively complex than, say, just looking away from the computer screen every once in a while. Having something specific to look at, over a long distance, seems to train the eye muscles much better.
As a result, I've had far less eye strain (which I used to notice when finally going to bed), and a reduced "re-integration" effect time when I go out for lunch or whenever.
Hope this helps :)
Often, highly intelligent people mistake their ego for self esteem. There's a saying in NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) that "the meaning of your communication is the response you get". It's an empowering belief, because it poses the constant challenge to communicate effectively, focusing on an individual's power in any situation to achieve the result they desire. True self esteem will surely follow. Relevance? To learn social skills, or indeed anything, requires proper motivation. Helping people to understand that they have the power to change social interactions that they don't like must surely be the first step in your process. It's only once someone accepts responsibility for the consequences of their actions that they can start to take charge of the results. In short: Don't allow your students to make the mistake of believing that their peers or associates are simply too stupid to understand them. In reality, the opposite is true so long as they have a desire for positive social experience and are not achieving that goal. "For wayfarers of all times, the right strategy for skillfully spreading the way essentially lies in adapting to communicate. Those who do not know how to adapt stick to the letter and cling to the doctrines, get stuck on forms and mired in sentiments - none of them succeed in strategic adaption." - Zhantang (noted Zen master)