Long ago, parents were telling their children that staring at the screen will damage their eyes, but there is no actual evidence supporting the claim. But in the case of virtual reality, wherein a user needs to wear VR headset which is so close to the eyes, does it really damage the eyes? In fact, one of the major issues involving VR headset involves the eyes and children are at most risk since they are the ones who are particularly using the VR headsets.
There are number of arguments regarding this issue and here are some of the issues arising:
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Does VR headset comes with High-Energy Visible Light (HEV)?
HEV may hurt the retina when the eyes are exposed to it for too long. This includes the overall brightness, contrast and frequency of a VR. It can damage your eyes if the device is too bright. If you already experienced wearing VR headset, is the light too bright for your eyes? Is the contrast making you unfocused seeing the virtual objects? If yes, VR may be affecting your eyes.
VR headsets also contain Blue-light hazard which may damage the eyes more than other lights do.
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Does VR headset cause Myopia?
Myopia is a growing eye problem around the world. Studies show that nearsightedness is rising due to Smartphones, tablets and the likes. When someone is working on and always looking on a Smartphone, for example, the eye lengthens, thus increasing the risk of myopia. VR headset screen is a few inches away from the eyes. But, we should take note that a user does not focusing on its screen but on the virtual images. These virtual images are projected in a distance because VR lens is designed to bend the light to make the objects look as if they are far away from its user.
But not all VR are made seamlessly. There are poorly made VR contents that come with too near objects and sometimes fast moving, which is hard for the eyes to capture.
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Does VR headset causes motion sickness?
There are VR lenses that suffer with distortion that can cause nausea and motion sickness. VR affects the eye-brain connection, so when the lens is distorted, it can cause headache and nausea. Our eyes are trained to focus on one point and our brain is used to response on what our eyes can see. When you are in a virtual reality, your eyes can see faraway objects, but in reality, they are just a few inches away from your eyes. VR is tricking the brain and there might be a long term effect on this.
Distortion is something that developers should work on. It will take software and hardware development to correct the problem.
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Does too much usage of VR damage your eyes?
Definitely, yes. A 10 to 15 minutes break every 30 minutes of using VR will rest your eyes. Cumulative exposure to it may really damage your eyes and your brain. Most of the VR contents are not well-done as there are distortions and virtual objects that are not well-crafted. Not to mention accumulative light exposure that could damage your retina. These factors can cause serious damage to your eyes and brain.