As the amount of time people spend in front of screens for school, work and pleasure increases, they may experience more problems with their eyes. According to visioncouncil.org, about eighty percent of American adults report using digital devices for more than two hours per day with nearly sixty seven percent using two or more devices simultaneously. In addition to this, fifty-nine percent report experiencing symptoms of digital eye strain. It is no secret that increased exposure to blue light emanating from screens of devices can lead to negative long term effects to the eye. 

To begin, eye strain can lead to headaches, neck or shoulder pain and blurred vision. Visioncouncil.org recommends using blue light glasses to make it easier to look at a screen and alleviate these symptoms if one associates eye strain with digital use.

On the bright side, many companies have come out with blue light glasses which are designed to help reduce potential side effects of looking at a screen all day. Blue light glasses filter or absorb rays from sources of blue light from as phones and computer screens. 

Additionally, blue light glasses are currently being sold by eye care professionals, designer brands, and they are easily accessible on Amazon for around $20 in different colors and styles that look like everyday eyewear. Also, blue light filtering is now available as an add-on to prescription and reader glasses.

In addition to wearing blue light glasses, there are other ways to avoid blue light. A popular product is a blue light filtering screen protector for both phones and computers, which filters blue light emitted from a screen. Smartphones also have settings that filter out blue light from their screen. They can be set to automatically turn on during specific hours of the day and also can be manually activated if the user is experiencing symptoms of eye strain.

Overall, there are many different ways in which blue light from screens can be countered—glasses, screen protectors, etc! However, the future is in technology and screens are not going away any time soon.