Shire recently lauched “screen responsibly,” a new educational initiative about the intersection between screen use and eye health. This initiative is underscored by new national Shire-sponsored survey data and as part of it, a partnership entrepreneur Arianna Huffington and her behavior-change media and technology company, Thrive Global to increase our dialogue about how we can love screens and our eyes.

While many eyecare practitioners underestimate how much time their patients spend eyeing their screens, Shire’s survey found that many doctors are also reporting that they are continuing to diagnose more patients with Dry Eye Disease (DED) due to screen usage. In fact, additional survey results show:

• Nine out of 10 (89 percent) eyecare practitioners (ECPs) don’t think their patients typically spend 10 or more hours per day using screens, while one in three adults reported using screens more than 10 hours per day

• Three out of four ECPs reported that they are diagnosing more patients with DED compared to five years ago, 88 percent who have seen an increase in the diagnosis or symptoms of DED in their patients have attributed to smartphone use

• Only 30 percent of ECPs believe that their patients are knowledgeable about ways to care for their eye health compared to 77 percent of adults who self-reported the same
Shire is encouraging consumers to adopt more responsible screen habits through their “screen.blink.listen” call to action and encouraging everyone to keep watching their screens but to also adopt healthy habits for your eyes. This includes remembering to follow tips such as taking blink breaks and testing their knowledge on their personal screening habits through the online “responsible screening” quiz.