The current pandemic has affected all cross sections of the society from medical professionals to working population to senior citizens. Even children, students have not been left out. In fact, they are ones whom we need to concentrate on. The current educational scenario across the globe has undergone a drastic change. With the impact of the pandemic shutting down all educational institutes, remote learning digitally has grown rapidly. Online teaching and learning have become the new routine with the start of schools and colleges this year. Even though it may seem feasible and convenient to teach and learn online, it also has a few downsides to it, especially on the visual health of young students.
For example, children have been used to a standard 5 - 6 hours of school every day. Now with online learning, students have to constantly be attentive to their classes via a screen for long hours at a stretch. This causes strain on their eyes giving rise to headaches, dry eye, blurry vision, and trouble concentrating.
These are a few short-term effects. If proper care is taken to ensure breaks and readjusting focus of eyes in between online sessions after scheduled time, it can prevent any long-term adverse effects.
Ideally, the screen-time for any child is zero, but it is not practical since online learning is the need of the hour. So, proper time and intervals must be fixed to ensure the visual health safety of children.

• Infants and toddlers up to 18 months should have the minimum screen time, which includes chatting with family members.
• For children aged 18 months to 2 years, screen time must not exceed 30 - 40 minutes, strictly not in a constant stretch.

From the ages of 2 - 6 years, children in pre-school need more online time for learning. The maximum screen time should be 1hr under parental guidance.
From the ages of 7 - 16 years, a consistent limit must be enforced by parents on all types of screens, and can be increased beyond 1hr according to their need.
Side effects of extended screen time include strain on the eyes, headache, blurred vision, dry and irritated eyes, losing focus, neck and shoulder pain, hindering brain activity, disrupted sleep, and insomniac behaviour. These side effects are usually caused due to looking at the screen for long continuous periods of time in the dark. The blue light emitting from devices with a digital screen causes harm to the retina. In addition to that, many times, children view screens from too close, with a hunched and bent posture that causes vision problems, and back and neck issues. These problems if not rectified at the initial stages can cause irreversible repercussions to children’s visual health over time.
Preventing these ill-impacts of digital screens include:

• Wearing glasses if required with proper lens coating
• Screen positioning in such a way that is 15-20 degrees below eye level
• Adjusting lighting of the screen to eliminate glare
• Focusing on posture so that the child sits upright and does not have to bend down to look at the screen
• Setting timings to give eyes the required rest to de-focus from the screen
• Following the 20-20-20 rule to look away from the screen for 20 seconds and focus on things that are at least 20 feet away, after intervals of 20 minutes
• Remembering to blink more frequently

Even though online learning and using the digital device has become necessary, one must always ensure that minimizing and reducing screen time is the only way to ensure proper visual health.