When I was a little kid my mother always warned me not to sit too close to the TV because it would “ruin your eyes.” Now I am saying the same thing to my two sons. Is this really true? Exactly what eye damage can occur? Is there an optimal distance from which to view a television screen? I am aware of the mental damage that children can incur from watching television but have never been clear about the adverse physical effects of this pastime. –David Horowitz, Los Angeles, California
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First let’s dispose of the TV threat. Virtually no one believes that under ordinary circumstances television watching poses any special danger, at least physically. Prior to 1968 or so some sets emitted excessive X rays, but that problem has now been eliminated. More recently concern has arisen about computer video display terminals (VDTs), which typically are viewed at much closer range than televisions; research is inconclusive so far but continuing. To be on the safe side some eye doctors say you shouldn’t let your kids get closer than five feet to the TV screen, the room shouldn’t be pitch-black, etc. But the intention is to prevent eye fatigue, not eye damage.
The most striking demonstration of this was a study in the late 60s of eyesight among Eskimos in Barrow, Alaska. These people had been introduced to the joys of civilization around World War II. The incidence of myopia in those age 56 and up was zero percent; in parents age 30 and up, 8 percent; in their children, 59 percent.
