3YO Girl Becomes Short-Sighted After Watching Too Many Cartoons On The Phone

Teenagers, toddlers, and even babies using tablets and smartphones are a common sight these days.

It’s a strange feeling knowing 2-year-olds are more proficient at using iPads than you are.

Twenty years ago, kids swiped their pen across sketch boards and now kids swipe their thumbs over tablets to select videos on YouTube.

I’m not about to go into an In my day… speech or anything, but smartphones can be addictive, and kids are not exactly known or their self-control.

And sometimes, this obsession with smartphones can negatively affect their health.

3YO Girl Becomes Short-Sighted After Watching Too Many Cartoons On The Phone

Tong Tong, a three-year-old girl from China was, like many kids, hyperactive and eager to play with her family.

However, her grandparents couldn’t entertain her at all times, and she started to cry whenever they didn’t play with her. So, in an attempt to appease their little human ball of energy, Tong Tong’s grandparents would take out their smartphones and switch on a cartoon film for her to keep her happy.

The three-year-old would immediately calm down whenever her grandparents did this. That’s what Netflix does for me.

Developed short-sightedness

But one day, when they brought Tong Tong to the hospital for a checkup before she entered kindergarten, they discovered that her sight had deteriorated and that she had to wear glasses to prevent it from getting worse. According to Setn, she had a visual acuity of 20/ 100.

Now, you’re probably wondering, is 20/100 bad? Well, it certainly is on a Math test. When it comes to eyesight, 20/100 translates to about 200 degrees of short-sightedness, so yes, it’s bad.

Young kids are more susceptible

The ophthalmologist told her parents that they should pay close attention to their kids while they are young because they could develop severe myopia when they grow up.

Many parents may not know this, but most babies are hyperopic at birth. This is a defect where the diameter of the eyeball is smaller than normal or the cornea is too flat. However, this defect usually corrects itself as the eye develops, and disappears during adolescence.

However, if the child engages in bad habits that affect their sight, their hyperopia could develop into myopia.

Jin Xiaoqin, director of oblique amblyopia and pediatric ophthalmology at Wuhan Ege Eye Hospital, said that the eyeballs change shape while they grow so it’s important not to overstrain the eyes.

Tong Tong’s vision can be corrected with glasses,  but if they continue to allow her to use mobile devices all the time, then she could have serious eye complications in the future including an increased risk of developing myopia.

So, parents, maybe it’s time to snatch that phone or tablet away from your young one. They might cry, but their eyes will thank you later.