Three Reasons You Shouldn’t Skip This Annual Health Exam

Let’s be honest — we’re a little obsessed with our tech. Case in point: 77% of Americans say having the latest technology is essential, and 49% of people feel like they need to install daily updates on their personal phone to keep the security, performance, and functionality of their devices up to date.¹

When your phone won’t charge, you get it fixed. When your work laptop starts running slowly, you reach out to IT on the spot. But when it comes to our eyes, the most advanced technology we’ll ever own, we may be dropping the ball. By the time you notice your vision changing or discomfort becomes persistent, an issue may have been developing for months or even years.

Screen time is taking a toll

If you’re reading this, you’re looking at a screen — and odds are, you’ve already spent a substantial amount of time today looking at one.

The term for all this screen time on our eyes is called “digital eye strain,” although you might describe it as “my eyes are exhausted.” Symptoms can include persistent dryness, fatigue, blurred vision, and headaches. And as our dependence on screens continues to grow, so does the impact on our eyes — which is why visiting the optometrist matters more than you might think. They can identify issues developing in your eyes before you notice any symptoms yourself. And digital eye strain is just the beginning. As it turns out, there could be a lot more happening during that annual exam than you would expect. 

1. Your eyes do more than you think

No smartphone comes close to what the eye can do. Every time you glance from your computer to a document on your desk, or from the road to your dashboard while you’re driving, your eyes automatically adjust focus immediately and precisely, recalibrating up to 50 times per second as your attention shifts. They're processing billions of neural pathways simultaneously to interpret colors, shapes, depth, and movement. They adapt to lighting changes within milliseconds and they help you process movement and spatial information, so you can move through changing environments safely.

2. What your eyes are telling your optometrist 

Your eyes aren’t just for seeing. They’re a sophisticated health monitoring system, and optometrists can detect early signs of over 270 serious conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases, and certain cancers — sometimes months or even years before symptoms appear. That annual eye exam is about more than just getting an updated prescription, and it can’t be replaced by an at-home vision test or a basic screening.

3. What technology can’t replace

No matter how sophisticated our technology gets, the human eye remains unmatched. Your eyes transfer visual information to your brain in just 13 milliseconds. They have unlimited memory bandwidth for processing visual information and can register as little as one photon — the smallest possible unit of light. And they do all of this automatically, no thought required.

That's the inspiration behind The Eye, a conceptual product from the American Optometric Association (AOA) that illustrates what your visual capabilities would look like if they were an actual tech device. It's not available for purchase, because you already have it. It’s a powerful reminder that your eyes are an irreplaceable technology that needs attention and care.

theSkimm

Your eyes perform some of the most sophisticated biological and neurological work imaginable, every single day. That, along with the broader health insights they can provide, make preventative care a priority. Visit seetheeye.com to learn more and schedule your annual eye exam with an AOA doctor of optometry. 

^{1 Sources: 2023 LendingTree survey; 2021 Kaspersky Digital Updates Report}