Rant: Reading glasses
 

I started using reading glasses a year ago mostly for reading small text, but in the last two months i feel i have become more dependent on my glasses.

After a year i have become needy on glasses, and i have become more comfortable with my glasses with out taking them off every five min, i continue to resist glasses and the fact that i need them and my constant dependance bothers me.

Worst part is, at times, perhaps its a habit, i find my self more and more bringing my self closer to written text to see better.

In some ways, i feel my eye sight is going to ****, it bothers me that there is nothing i can do besides a surgery.

And the worst part is, the reason my sight has gone to ****, is because i have spent many hours in front of a monitor.

Well, my wife is an Optometrist and according to her, using a monitor doesn't affect your prescription.

Everyone needs reading glasses as they get older. Little you can do about it. Usually it affects people aged about 40 but can vary either side.

Stop *******.

Impossible.

Buy a bigger monitor. I know Bungle thinks it's a good idea to spend your working life on a 14" CRT but really, squinting at stuff does not help.

Exactly, correlation does not imply causation. Using a monitor can cause eye strain, which can lead to temporary problems but it does no damage. A good nights' rest and your eyes will return to their normal state. If your vision is getting progressively worse, it's likely because of your genes and not anything you've done (unless you've taken to staring at the sun).

I don't think that using a monitor in itself does any harm (people have been watching TV for decades), but surely having to squint at a small picture all day, every day doesn't help?

Yeah, because people who use less than a 32" widescreen monitor can't even see wtf they are doing! I mean it's not like everyone managed perfectly well with smaller monitors for years......right?

Firstly, it was a 23" monitor which is a pretty much perfect size.

Secondly, people coped because they had to.

The way you're talking you'd think in the past everyone had to make regular visits to an optician because they had to "squint" to see what they had on the monitor, which is bollocks. Having a smaller monitor doesn't necessarily mean everything on it is smaller, it just means you have less screen real estate to play with.

You've fallen into the trap of "we couldn't possibly cope with anything less than we have now", when people in the past DID cope, and coped very well.

You don't have to be squinting more on a 19" screen with a lower resolution than you do on a 23" with a fullHD or higher res...

Which part of "but really, squinting at stuff does not help." sent you spinning off into sensationalised land?

When you have the option to help employees out for the sake of £50 there is no reason not to.

Depends how far away it is!

It should be the same really, of course if it's up to 50 pounds to giving your employees more screen estate than it would be silly to deny them that and limit your productivity.

It's not necessarily genetic. Certain eye conditions and prescriptions can be, but the need for reading glasses past a certain age is pretty much universal.

I believe it is something to do with the muscles weakening in, or around, the eye which make it harder to maintain a focus at a short distance.

It's age related.

According to my Missus, if you stared constantly at a monitor for hours and hours a day it may have a limited affect on your prescription, but the fact is you would need to be staring at a fixed distance constantly. Many people using a monitor will not be staring at it incessantly.

She can probably explain it better than me lol given that she is a consultant optometrist for Laser Surgery.

You're the one being sensationalist. First you claim everyone was "squinting" at their monitors in the past (which is bollocks), and secondly you seem to think buying a bigger monitor will help the OP (which it won't) when you don't even know what size monitor he is using atm!

I agree it's age related, but the specifics of how you age is genetically determined to a large degree.

If you're concerned about your sight, go see an Ophthalmologist if you haven't already, and get a checkup. I wouldn't recommend an Optometrist, personally. An Ophthalmologist is an MD, while a Optometrist is not, at least here in the US. While an Optometrist is good, an Ophthalmologist is better, as they provide a broader range of care.

Have you been out in the sun?

Similar in the UK.

My wife cannot prescribe medication and must refer anyone who needs such treatment to a GP or local hospital (depending on severity of issue).

I agree an Ophthalmologist can provide a wider range of care but in the first instance, unless you are really concerned with your vision, an Optometrist would normally be your first call for a standard eye-test.

Whilst they may need to refer you, a good OpTom should be able to spot most things. Think the best my wife did was with a young kid who's mother had brought him for an eye test as he was complaining of headaches whilst working at school. 10 minutes later mother and kid were in a taxi heading to the local hospital when my wife spotted the cause of the headaches - a tumour.