By Oliver Mwanko
Impact of working from home and spending more time on laptop screen. [COURTESY]
In the COVID-19 pandemic era, people across the country are working from home at unprecedented levels. Although remote work has been on the rise for some time now, up until the pandemic, the trend was relatively slow.
According to Mark Muoki, The Talent hunter and Hiring manager in East Africa for Lapaire Group, the majority of hiring managers plan to keep more of their workforce remote going forward.
“We believe that remote work is hastening a shift that reduces hiring, screening, and monitoring costs for managers and lessens burdens on workers to understand firm-specific context. We’ve seen a mind-set shift around remote work. Hiring managers for remote positions are now more comfortable interfacing with people they have not met personally, opening the door to work from anywhere and to flexible hiring. Firms have invested in virtual communications tools that make it easier to troubleshoot problems remotely and give outside workers a way to interface and get or give feedback.” Muoki comments.
He also reveals that remote work and tools like Slack have forced companies to better define tasks, codifying processes and specifications, making it easier to write specifications that a worker with little firm-specific knowledge can understand, which can enable opening up a company.
With more remote work also comes more screen time. Should we be worried about the eye health and sleep patterns of all of these new remote workers who are now spending more time on their electronic devices?
In the current digital world, technology has taken over people’s lives. Digital gadgets especially phones, computers and tablets have become central to daily activities that people engage in, for work as well as leisure or even for educational purposes.
Eye health experts caution that spending too much time with these digital devices is contributing to a crisis in eye health among individuals.
Diana Langat an optometrist at Lapaire Kenya noted that there has been an increased demand for eye care and health over the past two years, attributing this to working from home, which meant people spending more time on their screens. “This has increased demand for computer protective glasses as patients come complaining of other eyesight related issues,”
Patience Ahumuza, a Digital Communications consultant says that she spends about 14 hours in front of a computer every day.
“I am short-sighted which means I am unable to see things clearly unless they are relatively close to the eyes. Since the hit of Covid-19, my work became completely digital and I had more clients so I would spend about 14hrs in front of a computer.
It was great in the beginning at first until I started having blurry vision and severe headaches even when I put on my eyeglasses. I visited my Optician to have a comprehensive Eye test because I was suspecting a change in my prescriptions only to be told that I had developed Computer vision syndrome.” declared Ahumuza.
Just two hours of staring at a screen can cause eye strain. “People spend on average around seven to eleven hours behind screens daily. Prolonged time in front of screens can cause: Blurred vision, Tiredness, Headaches, Red/irritated eyes, Eye strain, & Dry eyes.”
We live in an increasingly digital world and with many industries being digitized, Eye Experts say that they have seen an increased demand for computer protective glasses as patients come complaining of other eyesight related issues.
Solutions to digital Eyestrain
The obvious answer is to stop looking at screens, but that’s simply not possible for most people.
Many jobs involve working on computers and the widespread use of smartphones means we’re not putting our screens down anytime soon.
Fortunately, there’s new lens technology that helps to protect against the harmful effects of screens; they are referred to as computer glasses.
Using these and taking measures to help reduce the risks of eye strain (outlined at the end of this article) will help prevent the adverse effects on your eyes of living in the digital age.
Lapaire the pan African Eyewear Company recently launched an awareness campaign on blue light to educate the community on the impact of blue lights and computer vision syndromes on the eyes as well as offer a discount of 15% Off on all Photochromic blue-light blocking glasses for a duration period of one month.
Roseline Kilonzo, Expansion Manager E.A at Lapaire Group.
It is paramount that we protect our eyes from this blue light. Lapaire is making this possible by offering 15% OFF on all photochromic, blue light blocking glasses that will not only filter the blue light from but offer 100% protection from the Sun’s UV rays as well.” Commented Roseline Kilonzo, Expansion Manager E.A at Lapaire Group.
