The president of China, Xi Jinping, seems to think so. The Xinhua News Agency came out with an article this past week that stated that since the “vision health of our country’s young people has always been a great concern” to Xi Jinping, the country is going to start limiting the number of new online video games available for sale. A recent study found that there was a 12% prevalence of myopia (or nearsightedness) in first grade children, a number that jumped to 67.4% by seventh grade. Excessive reading and/or prolonged near point work has long been a contender in the lineup of reasons for why nearsightedness develops, and the Chinese have glommed onto the specific near point activity of gaming as an activity to limit in order to curtail the myopic epidemic.
There are many theories as to why myopia develops, and there is no one culprit to blame. Genetics play a role as does lack of spending time outdoors and near point stress from prolonged reading as well as the digital world that we now inhabit. Doctors are reluctant to blame any one thing for the development of myopia and many do not agree with China’s video game restriction. Instead of totally banning video games, parents should rather limit screen time and encourage their children to play outside. Kids (and adults) should also be encouraged to follow the 20/20/20 rule – every twenty minutes, look twenty feet away for twenty seconds. As you can imagine gaming industry stock dropped in response to China’s announcement….
Park Eye Center 