‘It’s really debilitating’: The hidden danger in your daily screen time driving a surge in disease

It’s not easy avoiding screens in 2026, but Sonia Robertson says she has no choice.

The 59-year-old suffers from dry eye disease, a painful and debilitating condition often triggered or exacerbated by device use.

“It’s very frustrating emotionally because so much of what we do is on a screen,” she said. “All of our banking, all our entertainment and streaming.”

Robertson is among a growing number of Australians living with the condition, which is now estimated to affect about 85 per cent of the population at some point in their lives, up from about 7 per cent 30 years ago.

A surge in dry eye cases has triggered a boom in specialty clinics nationwide, many of which have lengthy waiting lists.

Optometrists attribute the demand to an uptick of screen use during and following the pandemic, which has drastically reduced how often we blink.

Jason Holland, a Brisbane-based optometrist who is the president and co-founder of the recently formed Dry Eye Society, said people blinked 12 to 15 times a minute if they were reading a book or talking to someone. This dropped to five to six times a minute when they were on devices.

“The oil glands only open up if you blink,” explained Holland.

Blinking less frequently, or only partially closing our eyes when we blink, traps this oil, causing dry, irritated eyes.

While the condition previously used to impact mainly older people, Holland said he was now treating patients as young as 17 with dry eyes linked to screen use. Patients face a five- to eight-week wait to access his dry eye clinic due to the demand.

“It is really debilitating,” he said. “I have patients who break down … They have had to give up work because of the condition. It has a huge impact.”

Australian College of Optometry Eye Health, Victoria’s only public health optometry provider, has treated 1000 patients at its dry eye clinic since it opened just four years ago. It’s grappling with a growing waiting list.

Varny Ganesalingam, the college’s manager of dry eye services, said as well as extended screen use, the condition was linked to ageing, windy or dry weather, air-conditioning, some medications and health conditions. It is more common among women.

She said eyes needed a smooth, stable surface to seamlessly interact with incoming light.

“If you have a disrupted ocular surface, you’re getting an uneven pathway of light,” said Ganesalingam.

“Most patients, even with mild to moderate dry eye, start to complain that they’re looking at something, it goes out of focus, and then they blink a few times and it comes clear again.”

The condition can also make it harder to notice the difference in faint or blurry shapes, making it difficult to navigate physical environments such as the edge of a staircase.

Severe and untreated dry eye disease can lead to permanent damage, including vision loss due to scarring of the cornea, pain, inflammation and light sensitivity.

Treatment usually involves eye drops and taking steps to reduce eye strain and dryness caused by extended screen use. In more serious cases, optometrists use intense pulsed light or low-level light therapy to clear blockages in the oil glands of the eye.

Ganesalingam encourages all Australians to follow what she calls the “20-20-20 rule”.

“Every 20 minutes, just look away from the screen out into the distance, beyond 20 feet, and then blink 20 times,” she explains. “That does help to reduce the impact of not doing the frequent blinking.”

To prevent dry eyes, optometrists also recommend eating Omega 3 fatty acids such as fish, staying hydrated and getting adequate sleep.

Lyn Hsieh, the national professional services adviser at Optometry Australia, said that using over-the-counter eye drops often provided immediate relief, however, using the wrong type carried risks.

“There are some that can cause a rebound effect, so we do suggest that people in the community see the optometrist for the best eye drops for them,” Hsieh advised.

She has noticed a rise in presentations following the pandemic, a period when prolonged screen time for work and social connection became the norm.

This observation is backed by data from Optometry Australia’s Vision Index report which found 55 per cent of people had reported developing the condition after 2020.

Since being diagnosed with dry eye disease a decade ago, Sonia Robertson never leaves the house without a healthy supply of single-use eye drops, which she stuffs into her handbag and bra.

Every hour, without fail, she leans back and squeezes the drops into her dry eyes.

The Dingley Village woman, from Melbourne’s south-east, also suffers from a condition known as eye dystonia, which causes involuntary contractions of the muscles around the eyes. It can lead to dry eye disease.

She places warm compresses on her eyes three times a day and wears glasses with pink lenses that block out the light. She receives regular checks and treatment from the Australian College of Optometry’s Dry Eye Clinic, including intense pulsed light.

She’s had to quit her job in administration which required spending hours on a screen, and exacerbated her dry eyes. Online tasks such as banking, household bills and subscriptions have been outsourced to her husband.

While these changes have significantly improved the severity of her condition, it’s something Robertson will have to manage for the rest of her life.

“It’s like when you’ve got a grain of sand in your eye, but because it’s your eye, everything stops,” she said her condition. “You have to deal with it.”

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