Published Sep 15, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Charlotte is a freelance features writer, specializing in wellness, travel, and lifestyle. She has been writing professionally since 2014, with experience in journalism, PR, proofreading, editing, content writing, and copywriting.
Many people spend extensive time on digital screens, whether that’s working a 9-to-5 computer-based job, scrolling social media, or gaming. Thanks to regular extended screen use, digital eye strain—aka computer vision syndrome (CVS)—is something many are at risk of.
To help, The American Optometric Association (AOA) has developed Blink Land—a mobile game to help you learn about, prevent, and know how to relieve eye strain. Here, we look at what digital eye strain is, discuss its causes and treatment, and explain how to play Blink Land to help protect your eyes.
Common Causes of Digital Eye Strain
Digital eye strain—sometimes known as computer vision syndrome (CVS)—is a common condition that is caused by prolonged screen use. Digital eye strain is characterized by a group of uncomfortable symptoms that primarily affect your eyes and vision.
If you’re wondering what eye strain feels like, the symptoms can include tired, itchy, sore, or burning eyes, blurred vision, headaches, dizziness, dry eyes, and neck, back, or shoulder pain.
Causes of eye strain can include:
- Prolonged screen use. Extended digital screen use requires a consistent effort for our eyes to focus, and uses specific muscles in the eye. With prolonged screen use, these muscles can become fatigued, which is why it's common to get eye strain from working long hours on a computer.
- Poor lighting. Straining to see in dim lighting (or experiencing exposure to glare) can create visual discomfort and make your eyes work harder than necessary.
- Stress and fatigue. We all know how debilitating experiencing stress can be on the body—and tense muscles around your eyes from screen overuse can contribute to eye strain.
- Dry environments. If you work in an air-conditioned office, the double effect of having a dry environment and blinking infrequently when focusing on your screen can lead to irritated and strained eyes.
- Incorrect posture. Both poor posture and improper screen positioning can force your neck and eyes into uncomfortable, strained positions.
If you regularly use screens—whether for work or play—it’s a good idea to be proactive in preventing digital eye strain. If you are experiencing eye strain symptoms or simply want to learn more, then playing Blink Land could help.
Learning Healthy Screen Habits With the Blink Land Game
Blink Land is a mobile game created by the American Optometric Association (AOA)—the leading organization for doctors of optometry (O.D.), optometric professionals, and optometry students (basically, all the top professionals who look after eye and vision health).
Blink Land was developed to help players learn how to incorporate eye-friendly screen habits to prevent and relieve digital eye strain. Blink Land exists to help you understand the connection between eye health and your favorite screen habits—which you can achieve by playing its mini-games and picking up trivia and eye health facts along the way.
Download: Blink Land for Android | iOS (Free)
How to Play Blink Land to Help Prevent Eye Strain Symptoms
Blink Land follows a very simple premise: simply roll the dice to move your character around the board. You might land on an action, trivia, or fun fact space—all of which require your input to proceed. The goal of Blink Land is to collect as many points as you can by answering questions correctly and completing mini-games (while picking up eye-friendly screen habits along the way).
Here’s how to play Blink Land to help support eye strain relief:
- Start the game. Once you’ve downloaded Blink Land to your device, open the game and tap Play to get started. Follow the onscreen instructions to customize your character and tap the Play button to begin the game.
- Roll your dice. Tap Roll dice to shake the dice, then tap the screen again to roll a number. Your character will move the appropriate number of spaces according to the number you rolled.
- Play mini-games. Follow the onscreen prompts to read facts, answer the trivia, or play the mini-games to help you learn more about digital eye strain.
If you need to adjust the settings, tap the cog icon in the top-right of the screen. You can enable various color accessibility modes here, as well as adjust the sound and music levels.
How Effective Is Playing Blink Land For Helping Digital Eye Strain?
The main purpose of Blink Land is to help individuals like you learn about the causes, symptoms, and treatment options for digital eye strain. You can also learn techniques to combat digital eye strain and relieve eye strain symptoms as you play the game. It’s a fun way to pick up facts without feeling like you’re having to study (or being reprimanded) for spending time on a screen.
If you’re after a gaming fix and want to learn how to prevent digital eye strain in other areas of your (screen) life, then Blink Land is a good tool to use. For some people, this well-developed educational game will help mitigate digital eye strain. For others, you may want to take additional steps to help protect your eyes from prolonged screen exposure.
How to Prevent Digital Eye Strain and Protect Your Eyes
Experiencing eye strain symptoms can be painful and debilitating and can even prevent you from completing your daily tasks. Aside from picking up facts, advice, and techniques from Blink Land on how to avoid eye strain caused by screens, you can try these tips for digital eye strain relief:
- Position your screen properly. According to the AOA's guide to computer vision syndrome, the optimum distance to position your computer screen should be between 20 and 28 inches from your eyes, and at a 15 to 20-degree angle below eye level. If your screen time issue is linked to your smartphone, you can adjust your screen position or enable screen distance on your iPhone or iPad to help reduce eye strain.
- Schedule screen breaks. Using a Pomodoro timer app or simply scheduling screen breaks throughout your working (or gaming) day is an effective way to protect and rest your eyes.
- Enable night light mode. Most devices now include features that reduce blue light emissions to give your eyes an easier time. For example, you can enable Night Light on Windows or use Night Shift on your iPhone to use softer lights on your favorite screens.
- Practice eye exercises. Blink Land introduces various eye exercises you can practice to help prevent eye strain. You can also try rolling your eyes or focusing on an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes (aka the 20-20-20 rule).
- Play Blink Land. As the game was designed to help you develop eye-friendly habits, playing Blink Land can help protect your eyes from digital eye strain.
It’s also a good idea to drink plenty of water when you’re using screens as dehydration can cause dry and irritated eyes. If you’re sitting at a desk for a prolonged amount of time, try to get up and stretch regularly, giving both your eyes and body a much-needed break.
Playing Blink Land Could Help You Reduce the Risk of Digital Eye Strain
Playing Blink Land can help you learn how to combat and even prevent the symptoms of eye strain. Remember to take regular breaks from your screen(s), stay hydrated, and remember to blink! If you are experiencing continued eye strain symptoms and the above self-care tips don’t help ease the problem, see an eye specialist or doctor for further help.