Question: Does sitting too close to the TV set damage your eyes?
What sparked me thinking about this question was not that my mom said this to me all the time when I was a kid (although I do remember hearing it occasionally!), but that I've been saying it to myself this week!
Long story short: because of major home improvement projects, the furniture in our house is all crammed into weird places it doesn't belong, which includes the big screen TV being crammed into our bedroom. And invariably, when I want to watch television, my husband wants to sleep. As a result, I've been trying to compromise by turning the volume down super low and then sitting as close as I can to the TV.
Why not use the captions, you ask. Because I tried that, but I'm watching the Olympics right now (I love me some Olympics!), and the captions block a lot of the action. (Which makes me feel bad for deaf people who have to deal with these awkwardly placed captions all the time!) So even though we have a ginormous TV, I've been planting myself right smack in front of it.
Which led me to wonder...am I doing any damage to myself by cozying up to my TV? For the last five decades, mothers have been warning their children about the danger, but what exactly is that danger? Apart from the vague, "you'll ruin your eyes!" warning, I've never heard a real reason why up-close TV viewing is so bad.
Thus, to save myself from all kinds of terrible, TV-induced calamities (and have a little fun with Google!), I decided to research this question. So...can you ruin your eyes sitting too close to the TV?
Answer: No. You might get a whopping headache from up-close-and-personal time with your television set (as I can attest to!), but you will not permanently damage anything. The problem is eye fatigue, not eye damage.
However, let it be noted that research is still ongoing to see if (and how much) myopia (nearsightedness) may be related to eye-straining activities in general, like watching TV from a short distance, reading for long periods of time, etc. But overall, snuggling up to your TV set for a closer look is considered completely innocuous.
You might be wondering, then, how this myth came to be in the first place. (I know I was!) Turns out that some of the earliest models of television sets (we're talking pre-1968, people!) did, in fact, emit potentially harmful X rays. Creepy, no?!
But my mind is at rest for now, knowing I can safely watch Michael Phelps swim for yet another gold medal without frying my brain in the process. (Bonus: since I'm sitting so close to the TV, it feels like I'm almost in the pool with him!) Sure, I might get a little headache and eye strain in the process, but hey--if that's the price of witnessing athletic history, I'm willing to pay. Just pass the Advil.
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