Have you ever felt the light from the computer screen shining into your eyes and causing a constant headache, or felt dizzy or nauseous after looking at your phone?
While you might think these feelings are just eye strain or fatigue from looking at a screen for too long, they’re actually symptoms of a condition called `digital sickness,` or simply
This is a worrying problem in today’s era, with the rise of working from home, distance learning and the habit of endlessly surfing the internet.
What is computer sickness?
Computer sickness refers to a group of unpleasant symptoms similar to motion sickness.
Ophthalmic symptoms, such as eye strain, fatigue and headaches, are related to overwork of the nerves that control eye movement.
Some other symptoms such as difficulty concentrating and blurred vision, overlapping objects.
We can experience symptoms of computer sickness through everyday devices such as computers, phones, and TVs.
For example, the motion effect on the iPhone lock screen released in 2013, which made the wallpaper appear to float or move as the user moved the phone, made many people feel extremely uncomfortable.
Parallax scrolling on web pages, where the background image remains static while the background content moves, can also cause these symptoms.
The parallax effect, commonly implemented in many websites and games to create the illusion of depth, is also one of the factors.
There is not complete agreement among researchers about why people experience computer sickness.
One of the most common explanations is that there is a lack of correspondence between the information perceived by parts of the body and the reality that is taking place.
When you are 100% focused on your screen, the brain experiences cognitive dissonance when seeing movement (from videos, animated graphics, or simply scrolling down a page) while the rest
Your eyes receive information that tells them that you are moving but your body is not.
Today’s technological devices can cause conflicts between visual perception and physical experience.
“This is a fundamental problem that has been swept under the rug in the tech industry,” said Cyriel Diels, a cognitive psychologist and human factors researcher at Coventry University’s Center for Mobility and Communications in the UK.
Cybersickness, says Steven Rauch, medical director of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Balance and Vestibular Center and a professor of otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School, stems from a fundamental mismatch between
`Your sense of balance is different from other senses in that it has a lot of inputs. When those inputs are inconsistent, that’s when you feel dizzy and nauseous.`
Computer sickness symptoms can be dangerous
Although the initial symptoms may appear benign, they can have lasting effects for up to 24 hours after using the device.
For example, symptoms such as severe headaches, eyestrain or dizziness can affect coordination and attention.
Just like motion sickness, some people may not experience this symptom but others may have more severe symptoms.
If you’re struggling with symptoms of computer sickness caused by using a computer or phone for long periods of time, there are ways to help ease the discomfort.
Use anti-blue light glasses designed to block some of the blue light waves emitted from device screens, which can lead to eye strain and poor sleep.
Balance experts say the problem can be improved with practice, such as watching a movie with random cuts or playing a virtual reality game for short periods until it starts to appear.
However, experts also debate the above remedy because of concerns that it may reduce the body’s ability to react appropriately in the real world.
Caroline