It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that grabs our attention and hurts our health in the process

Barbara Debuschier is a journalist.

Children are increasingly nearsighted and overweight, and they, like adults, suffer from a “fragile brain”. An important reason is the screens of all kinds on which we spend so much time every day. It seems that while one in four people in their 60s is nearsighted, now it is one in two children. This has to do with frequent use of the screen. It does not look dramatic, because it can be solved with glasses or contact lenses. But the eyes that are often close to the screen grow in length. This can cause retinal bald spots and cause retinal detachment or damage to the optic nerve.

Recent research has also shown that more than one in five (21.7 percent) young Flemish adults are overweight or obese. In the previous survey, in 2018, this was one in seven. The fact that young people spend an average of two hours behind their screens a day also plays an important role here.

Meanwhile, cinema operators are reporting on visitors who fail to watch a movie without clicking through or creating Instagram or YouTube in the meantime. The researchers weren’t surprised: year after year, the smartphone seems to be gaining in importance, with dire consequences for attention span and ability to focus. Many scientists are concerned about the impact of this fragmented attention on children’s still-developing brains.

Ignoring social media and smartphones is biased and exaggerated as toxic culprits that herald the demise of the Western world – as do cultural pessimists. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be more vigilant about adverse effects, which can last a lifetime.

Better realizing that we as parents are setting an example and that a multi-billion dollar industry is hijacking our attention and harming our health in the process really does make a difference. In fact, when it comes to obesity, there are two industries that are massively bent on us in the name of profit. Meta and co steal our attention because it brings us dollars, making us move more and move less. The food industry tries to sell us as unhealthy food as possible because it makes the most money, so that we eat more and less healthily.

Structural changes are more difficult to achieve but work better. The right to disconnect in the workplace is an example, as is the ban on smartphones in French schools. Meanwhile, there are practical solutions that are often, ironically, digital. Like apps that limit screen time or to remind yourself to stand up regularly. Ophthalmologists recommend that children look into the distance for twenty seconds after twenty minutes of close vision and play outside for two hours a day. Because looking into the distance and sun exposure protects children’s eyes.

If we all more or less follow the advice of these eye doctors, and if we encourage our children and each other to do so, we will collectively be better able to withstand the epidemics of nearsightedness, obesity, and distracted attention. And against corporate power that has turned our environment into all too tempting digital mirrors and banqueting palaces.