In Focus: Youth myopia risk linked to smartphone use

Data from a study published in Clinical and Experimental Optometry has found that children with myopia use twice the amount of smartphone data each day as their non-myopic peers, adding weight to the argument that sustained levels of device usage from a young age increases the risk of myopia.

Results showed myopic refractive error was associated with increased smartphone data usage, with children who had normal levels of vision consuming an average of 614MB data daily and spending nearly four-and-a-half hours on the phone each day. In contrast, young myopes consumed an average of 1,131 MB data daily and spent nearly five hours on the phone daily.