Is scrolling to infinity making you ill?

 CYBER SICKNESS:

Do you ever feel like the light of your computer screen is burrowing into your eyes and making your head pulse? Or feel dizzy or nauseous after looking at your phone? 

              While you might think these sensations are just eye strain or fatigue from looking at your screen for too long, they’re actually symptoms of a condition called "cybersickness". 

What is Cybersickness? 

                Cybersickness, also known as virtual reality (VR) sickness or motion sickness in virtual environments, is a phenomenon that occurs when there is a mismatch between the visual and vestibular (inner ear) sensory information.

There isn’t total agreement among researchers about why people experience cybersickness. One prevailing idea, sensory conflict theory, hypothesizes that it’s from a mismatch of information perceived by the parts of the body that regulate vision and balance. Your eyes receive information that tells them you’re moving even though your body isn’t. Everyday technology design can trigger this conflict between visual perception and physical experience.

SYMPTOMS: 

Cybersickness is manifested as a cluster of symptoms. 

These symptoms fall into three categories: nausea, oculomotor issues and general disorientation. 

• Oculomotor symptoms, like eye strain, fatigue and headaches, involve overworking the nerve that controls eye movement. 
• Disorientation can manifest as dizziness and vertigo. 
• Other cybersickness symptoms includes, difficulty concentrating and blurred vision, overlap categories.

These issues can persist for hours and affect sleep quality.

MANAGMENT OF CYBERSICKNESS: 

The easiest solution is to try to prevent cybersickness in the first place. You may be able to do this by:

• reducing overall screen time

• taking frequent breaks to rest your eyes, stretch, and change positioning

• periodically focusing your eyes on something stable other than the screen

• avoiding use of multiple screens at one time

• choosing audio presentations over video when you can

• choosing audio or printed books over electronic reading material when possible

• writing notes by hand rather than electronically

• slowing your scroll speed

• turning off pop-ups and avoiding flashy displays

• avoiding heavy foods before long periods of screen time

• keeping the room ventilated and free of strong odors

• avoiding electronic screens when in a moving vehicle

• using larger fonts to read and work.

• using Blue light glasses also known as, cybersickness glasses helps in reducing the symptoms.