Bangkok Hospital Pattaya warned more than 100 people about the physical and emotional problems that can come from staring too long at their Facebook pages, including eye strain and back problems.
Hospital Director Dr Pichit Kangwolkij opened the March 19 seminar featuring Dr. San Methasiri, a specialist from the Eye Center, Dr. Suradet Loiduanchai, a specialist from the Spine & Joint Center, and Dr. Somrot Ponglamai, specialist from the Rehabilitation Center.
Bangkok Hospital Pattaya Dr Pichit Kangwolkij opens the hospital’s seminar about the physical and emotional problems that can come from staring too long at their Facebook pages
The seminar addressed problems from using computers and social media, which affect both physical and emotional health, especially for people who spend a long time on Facebook, games, or other activities on computers and smartphones.
Such activity causes strain on the eye and might sometimes impair emotional health.
Pichit said people’s lifestyles have changed drastically. People worldwide are addicted to their smart device screens and social networks. Statistics show that Thailand has 28 million Facebook users, an increase of 53% year on year.
In Chonburi, 500,000 residents out of 1.4 million are on social networks and the number is growing. This means people’s health is also changing. The three lecturers helped attendees understand how to prevent health problems from spending a long time staring at the screen.
San said staring at the screen for a long time can cause many problems in the eye, such as strain, pain, dryness, blurred vision, short sightedness, and side effects such as headache, back pain, and neck pain.
When having to work on the screen for a long time, you should change your postures often to prevent your neck from bending down in one position for too long, take an eye break at least every half an hour by looking at something no less than seven meters away, or closing your eyes for five minutes.
Do not force your eye to focus on reading small letters for too long. He suggested adjusting the type size to one easy to read, avoid reading in the car when it is vibrating, adjusting the screen’s brightness to suit your eyes, keeping a distance of about 30 cm. between the eyes and the screen.
Other advice included wearing proper eyeglasses, and most importantly, avoid staring at the screen for a long time in dry air or in the wind.
Artificial tears should be used in people who have dry eyes or wear contact lenses. However, the best solution is to change smart device habits by using it alternately with doing other activities, such as housework, exercise, or just taking a break from all that liking and tweeting.
