5 Things to Know About Eye Care for Children in School

As the school year begins for children across the country, eye health takes center stage. About 89% of all instructors from kindergarten through high school use technology in their classroom,¹ introducing the possibility of eye strain due to screen time alongside potential eye strain of looking at a whiteboard. Recent studies have shown that there is a link between screen time and the risk of myopia.² With school-aged children heading back to the classroom this week, here are 5 things that children, parents, teachers, and ophthalmologists can do to make sure that vision is preserved as the eye develops.

Taking care of eye health is important for children's development in the classroom. | Image credit: Lena May - stock.adobe.com

1. Take Technology Breaks in the Classroom

With the use of laptops, iPads, and other smart devices in classrooms, children may face the risk of looking at a screen for most of the day.

“If you’re staring at a screen for a long time, you may not realize that it’s a strain on your eyes,” Allison Babiuch, MD, a pediatric ophthalmologist at Cleveland Clinic, said in an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care^® (AJMC^®). “You might notice that your eyes start feeling blurry, or it’s harder to focus, and some people actually get headaches from that.”

Douglas Lazzaro, MD, MBA, professor of ophthalmology at NYU Langone Health, explained to AJMC that there is a possibility that the use of such devices for so long each day could contribute to the increased rates of myopia seen across the world.

Both Babiuch and Lazzaro recommend that children take breaks from their technology in the classroom, with Babiuch specifically mentioning the 20-20-20 rule. “For every 20 minutes of screen time, take a 20-second break and try to look 20 feet away,” she explained.

This can help to mitigate any potential effects the technology use will have on children.

2. Track Screen Time Both in School and at Home

Although it’s not always possible to avoid screen use at school, parents can try to track the usage of screens at home to avoid overuse of technology and eye strain over the course of the day.

“I think it’s important to try to look at the total amount of screen time that your kids are getting each day… You total up all the time on screens outside of school, but then if you add in how much computer time and screen time they’re getting at school, it ends up being quite a bit,” said Babiuch.

Lazzaro emphasized that parents should limit the use of such devices so that they aren’t stationary for so long every day. “Children, just like young adults, need to take breaks on their devices. You can’t be using these things 8 to 10 hours straight,” he said.

3. Encourage Outdoor Activities Each Day to Contrast the Screen Time

Both Babiuch and Lazzaro highlighted the need for children to spend time outside as they develop.

“You need to be out there. It helps the body develop, the eyes develop, and interaction with people…the eyes need to see the light as well,” said Lazzaro.

This can be accomplished through various means, including letting children participate in sports that take place outside, going to parks or playgrounds after school, or taking walks around the neighborhood with your child.

“I tell parents it’s really important to get their kids outside, and they’re like ‘Oh okay, so I should have them reading or on my phone outside.’” No. I want you outside looking farther away, just doing normal kids stuff outside,” Babiuch explained.

4. Discuss With the School How to Cater to Children With Nearsightedness

Talking with the teacher or the school administration about how a child with nearsightedness can be helped in the classroom could spark conversations that will help the child.

“If you’re looking in the distance and you have a large classroom, sitting closer to the front will definitely help the myopic or nearsighted children,” said Lazzaro.

Asking about alternatives to screen time might also be worth asking about, said Babiuch. “I always encourage parents to talk with their kids’ schools and their teachers and try to get a feel for how much screen time they’re getting at school and try to look into alternatives to that,” she said. “So if they’re doing reading…on their computers, what if we could just do books…you could try to limit [the screen] with alternate activities.”

5. Children Should See Their Eye Doctor Annually

Babiuch and Lazzaro stressed that annual visits to the eye doctor are vital for making sure children are up to date on their prescription or are given prescription lenses in a suitable time frame before eye strain makes matters worse. This can include schools doing annual screenings for vision and letting parents know that their child has problems seeing.

“The problem with kids [is that] kids who are myopic or nearsighted aren’t going to tell you they’re nearsighted because they can see up close and kids do a lot of near tasks,” said Lazzaro

“We really rely on the schools and the primary care doctors, like pediatricians, to be screening the kids,” explained Babiuch.

Lazzaro pointed out that ophthalmologists and optometrists can reach out by doing screenings in schools themselves, saying that he had started a screening program in Coney Island that was very enlightening. “It was amazing that many of the kids that I was screening had never been to an eye doctor, and at least 30% to 40% of the kids I examined needed eyeglasses. You don’t know if that impacted their early learning because the kids I was examining were already 10, 11, [or] 12. They may have had some learning problems because they weren’t seeing the whiteboard well,” he said.

Lazzaro also pointed out that children can talk to their eye doctor about contact lenses as well with these annual visits. However, he said, society needs to do a better job of getting kids in to see the eye doctor.

References

1. Lockwood J. Technology in education: promoting student engagement. UCONN. Accessed September 3, 2025. https://career.uconn.edu/blog/2023/12/14/technology-in-education-promoting-student-engagement/

2. Ha A, Lee YJ, Lee M, Shim SR, Kim YK. Digital screen time and myopia: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(2):e2460026. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.60026