All the time you spend on the computer & smartphone can hurt your vision

It seems we constantly have our face in front of a screen. Whether it's the computer, TV, video games, or our phones, all that screen time can strain our eyes and lead to what’s called computer vision syndrome.

Adam Magaziner, a network administrator constantly has his face in front of a computer.

He works in IT and spends a lot of time looking at a screen, at least 4 to 6 hours a day. It started to affect his vision. 

He says, "I would go home and watch TV with my family and I would notice that looking at the screen was very hard, vision was a little bit blurry. The last thing I wanted to do was look at any kind of monitor or TV."   

Turns out Adam had computer vision syndrome.

Dr. Richard Edlow with the Katzen Eye Group says people who spend 3 or more hours a day on a computer or looking at a screen are prone to get it.

He says, "The symptoms include anything from eye fatigue, headaches, dryness, redness of the eyes"   

Dr. Edlow says there's a simple rule to follow to keep your eyes in check. "So with computers there's a 20, 20, 20 rule. For every 20 minutes of computer, we should look 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Look out a window or look as far away as you can to keep that focusing relaxed."   

It also helps to get specialized glasses with a yellow tint to cut down on the glare.

Blink often to keep your eyes from getting dry. Make sure you're not sitting below a vent, the constant air can also dry out your eyes.

And when you're in front a computer, position yourself so you're about 25 inches from the screen.

Simple changes that have brought things into sharper focus for Adam. He says, "When I leave work at the end of the day, I can go home and watch TV and there's no problem at all."