Blue Light and Screens

[00:00:00] Dr. Joe: Are screens in blue light really destroying kids' eyesight and leading to sleep disturbances, or is the truth more nuanced and complicated than we've been led to believe? Let's find out in this episode.

[00:00:18] Dr. Joe: Welcome to Safe and Innovative Schools. I'm Dr. Joe Phillips, and today we're gonna be digging deep into the science behind screen use student health and the role of emerging technologies like ai, virtual reality, and augmented reality in schools. As AI driven learning tools, VR simulations, AR enhanced lessons are becoming a bigger part of the teaching and learning process.

[00:00:39] Dr. Joe: Students are spending more time on screens than ever before. So how do we balance the benefits of these innovative teaching and learning processes? These tools that we're bringing into the classroom with students' health?

[00:00:53] Dr. Joe: Let's start by busting a very popular myth. You've probably heard that blue light from screens is [00:01:00] seriously harming children's eyes, but here's what the research tells us. Sunlight has about 100 to 500 more times blue light than the average digital device. And spending just one minute outdoors exposes your eyes to more blue light than staring at a screen all day.

[00:01:17] Dr. Joe: So what's the real issue? Well, it's not blue light, it's the prolonged time spent on what's called near work tasks like reading, writing, doing work on computers or with VR AR headsets, and not getting enough exposure to the outdoors, to the sunlight.

[00:01:34] Dr. Joe: A 2024 study in JAMA Network Open found that for every hour of near work that students did, whether that's reading, writing, or working on a computer, led to a 21% increased risk of developing nearsightedness.

[00:01:48] Dr. Joe: Teachers, parents, and students. Think about this. How many hours a day do students spend doing near work reading, writing, working on screens, doing things with VR, AR headsets, [00:02:00] playing video games, and not getting exposure to the outdoors?

[00:02:04] Dr. Joe: As my grandpa used to say, let's go touch some grass.

[00:02:07] Dr. Joe: And my grandpa was actually a pretty smart guy. He was an optometrist. And like the other experts are saying, students need about two hours of outdoor activity a day for their eyes to develop properly

[00:02:20] Dr. Joe: natural light exposure helps prevent that vision strain. And so a quick tip other than just getting outside and touching some grass and getting that exposure into the eyes is a 20, 20 20 rule.

[00:02:32] Dr. Joe: So when students are doing near work, and this works for adults as well, every 20 minutes look 20 feet away for about 20 seconds, and that will help relieve some of that strain from the eyes and help those eyes for those students develop a lot better.

[00:02:46] Dr. Joe: But vision isn't the only concern. Screens also affect sleep, and it's a big deal. So here's the science of sleep disruption. Screens suppress melatonin, the hormone that signals our bodies. That [00:03:00] is time to sleep. Social media, gaming, fast-paced content, it all keeps kids' brains wired and delays rest even further.

[00:03:08] Dr. Joe: The result? Later bedtimes, poor sleep quality, less deep sleep, hurting, memory, learning and focus. So how do we fix it? Create a screen curfew at least one hour before bedtime. Encourage offline activities like reading, journaling, or stretching an hour or two before bed. Better sleep equals better grades.

[00:03:32] Dr. Joe: Screens off brains on. That is what we're wanting to do before bedtime.

[00:03:37] Dr. Joe: So again, it's not blue light itself, that is actually the issue. It's the time of day or night that blue light exposure is happening with our students.

[00:03:45] Dr. Joe: Our brains have developed to understand and sense when the sun is going down, and that helps to produce the melatonin that lets us know when it's time to sleep. When we're using artificial light, especially artificial blue light, it delays or [00:04:00] prevents the production of that melatonin that allows our

[00:04:03] Dr. Joe: kids to know it's time to wind down and go to bed. So again, we want to really start to decrease that exposure to blue light one, maybe two hours before bed, and have a really good routine that allows the brain to wind down and shut down, ready for sleep so our kids can get that deep sleep that will help them with their focus, with their memory, and with their attention.

[00:04:26] Dr. Joe: So let's shift to the future. Actually to right now where we're seeing that AI, VR, and AR are coming into classrooms at a pace that we have never seen before. And that is leading to more and more screen exposure time for our students.

[00:04:40] Dr. Joe: These AI power tools are very powerful. They're offering real time tutoring, differentiated instruction, adaptive assessments, instant feedback for teachers and more, but they're also increasing that screen dependency. AR and VR are creating immersive environments where kids are able to [00:05:00] do things that they've never been able to do before and learn at a deeper level than ever has been possible before, but that is leading to more screen time.

[00:05:09] Dr. Joe: So what do we want to do? We want to make sure that we're following that 20 20 20 rule, and we also wanna make sure that we're adding in some movement into these lessons. We don't want our students just sitting there getting that content from the screen. If we're bringing in augmented reality, for example, there's some great tools that we can use that get kids up and around and moving while they're having that AR learning experience.

[00:05:36] Dr. Joe: We also wanna make sure that we're setting healthy screen time limits. Even with AI and VR, we want to take those regular breaks. Again, that 20 20 20 rule, don't have these lessons go longer than 20 minutes of uninterrupted screen time. We also wanna make sure that we're blending digital and hands-on learning.

[00:05:57] Dr. Joe: Rotate those AI driven lessons with [00:06:00] offline activities to keep students engaged without overloading screen time.

[00:06:04] Dr. Joe: And I can't stress enough how important movement is. We have increasing obesity rates in the US and screen time has a lot to do with that. Excessive screen time equals less movements, and studies are linking this to higher obesity rates, poor posture, low energy, low focus, and shortening attention spans.

[00:06:26] Dr. Joe: So again, how do we fix this? We wanna prioritize outdoor time. Schools should schedule short outdoor breaks throughout the day, and we're actually seeing an emergence of recess coming back to middle schools, which I think is really cool. Again, that 20 20 20 rule, I'm not gonna stop stressing that 20 20 20 rule.

[00:06:45] Dr. Joe: We want to make sure that we're breaking up that long exposure to screen time for at least 20 seconds every 20 minutes. And we want to blend tech with movement, use educational VR tools, but use them in a way that encourage our students to [00:07:00] walk, jump, and interact physically. And as we're looking at experts that are specializing in adolescent health, we're really seeing that schools that integrate frequent movement breaks and outdoor activities are seeing improved student health and improved academic performance amongst their students.

[00:07:19] Dr. Joe: So these small changes can absolutely make a big difference.

[00:07:23] Dr. Joe: So what's the takeaway? Well, the main takeaway is that screens are not the enemy. It's how we use them that matters. We don't want students having uninterrupted screen time for hours and hours a day. And we also wanna make sure that we're not using screens too close to bedtime.

[00:07:39] Dr. Joe: We wanna set healthy screen boundaries, prioritize outdoor time, and use AI, AR, and VR wisely. We wanna make sure that our schools are healthier, safer, more innovative learning environments.

[00:07:53] Thank you for joining me on this episode of Safe and Innovative Schools, where we covered the important topics of limiting screen time and blue [00:08:00] light for our students.

[00:08:01] Dr. Joe: If you'd like this episode, please like, subscribe, and share, and until next time, let's keep our schools safe and innovative. Thank you.