Why so many people need glasses now

Nearsightedness is on the rise worldwide. How did that happen? Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don’t miss any videos: Over the past few decades, children around the world have been diagnosed with nearsightedness at increasingly high rates. Nearsightedness, or myopia, can stabilize over time, but it doesn’t get better — meaning that myopes will rely on glasses, contact lenses, or corrective surgery to see for their entire lives. The blurriness associated with myopia is caused by eyeballs that have grown too long; in a stretched-out shape, eyes aren’t able to properly focus images onto the retina. Researchers believe that two culprits are to blame: the lack of outdoor play, and prolonged time doing up-close activities like using digital devices. In some countries — like Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, where over 80 percent of students graduating high school are myopic — intervening the progression of myopia has become a nationwide effort. Read more about... The global prevalence of myopia: (16)00025-7/fulltext#:~:text=We predict by 2050 there,, 5.7%–19.4%]) How time outdoors reduces myopia risk: Intervention programs in Taiwan: And intervention in Singapore: Make sure you never miss behind-the-scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out Support Vox’s reporting with a one-time or recurring contribution: Shop the Vox merch store: Watch our full video catalog: Follow Vox on Facebook: Follow Vox on Twitter: Follow Vox on TikTok: @voxdotcom