Introduction

With time & the advent of technology, the usage of computers, laptops, tablets & smartphones has seen a steady increase in the past few years.1, 2 These digital devices require to be held at a distance that is intermediate between near and distance vision, thereby causing strain on the visual system designed for comfortable near & distance vision. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic & the worldwide lockdown has immediately followed by a drastic increase in the amount of time spent on these gadgets.3, 4, 5

According to the American Optometric Association, as little as >2 hours of continuous digital device usage per day is enough to develop an array of eye & vision-related problems & referred to as “digital eye strain”.4

Prolonged use of digital devices causes “computer vision syndrome”.6, 7, 1, 2, 8

Materials and Methods

This study is based on a quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional design with a semi-structured South Delhi population questionnaire. An online survey has been taken by the platform Google forms. Participants are considered from 08 years & too less than 50 years who use digital devices are included as any systemic illness and trauma, were excluded. More than 8 years of age participants were questioned with 16 questionnaires (Table 1) through a survey by online mode via social media platforms through the mail, Facebook, etc. the questions are designed to compare the effect of digital gadgets before and after a lockdown on participants of the South Delhi Population. As a result, questions give the status of Day-to-Day exposure to digital gadgets due to working from home during COVID 19. The responses are providing the level of knowledge about their digital gadget exposure. Participants’ information is taken confidentially with informed consent. Ethical approval has been taken by the Institutional ethical committee of Jamia Hamdard New Delhi before the study. The collected data has been studied with statistical analysis that has been done using Microsoft Excel and noted in percentile format by using SPSS software (Table 3). Participants above 8 years of age with normal health, have been taken into the study as Inclusion Criteria.

Result

The survey has completed 156 subjects. In this study, Females participated more than males, with 58.3% (Figure 1). With 30.76%, the >50 age group was found to participate, and at 13-31 years of age, participation was found to be more with 60% (Figure 2). Most individuals use digital devices because of work from home with 44.2% (Figure 3). Before the lockdown, the duration of digital device usage is not there between 4 and 6 hrs but after the lockdown, due to working from home, it has been increased by 35% (Figure 4) as 52.9% of participants feel headaches due to prolonged use of digital devices (Figure 5). 72.3% of participants feel restless due to prolonged use of digital devices (Figure 8). As most of the participants are using spectacles, they seemed to change their spectacle power in COVID 19 with 83% (Figure 7).

Figure 1

Results for sex ratio

Figure 2

Results for age distribution

Figure 3

Results for the main purpose of digital device usage

Figure 4

Result for digital exposure before and during the lockdown

Figure 5

Results for ocular symptoms in percentile

Figure 6

Result of using spectacle?

Figure 7

Result for change in spectacle?

Figure 8

Results for feeling restless and stressed while prolonged use of digital devices

Discussion

This study shows that most of the participants say that the reason for using digital devices is to work from home and says that they have and says that their spectacle power has been increased due to this by 82.7%. Most of the participants were females with 58%. A study done by Pratyusha Ganne concluded that the prevalence of eye strain was higher among students taking online classes compared to the general public (50.6% vs 33.2%).9 Our study found that 44.2% majority of participants had exposure to digital devices due to work from home, i.e. online digital exposure. The results of these studies discussed above show similarities with our current study which shows that many participants have to come in contact with digital devices due to online mode. In our study, 35.25% of the participants are found to have more digital exposure during the lockdown. Another study which was done by Balsam Alabdulkader also noted that 78% of participants reported more digital exposure during lockdown.3

Conclusion

It was discovered that before the lockdown the duration of digital device usage is not there between 4 to 6 hrs but during the lockdown, due to working from home it has increased and headache as an asymptomatic symptom is noticed more during prolonged use of digital devices in lockdown.

Source of Funding

None.

Conflict of Interest

None.