Computer gaming 'harming' children's eyesight_美文

Computer gaming 'harming' children's eyesight

More students wear glasses - that was the first thing fourth-grade teacher Qu Tingting noticed when she entered the classroom at the beginning of the new semester at Tairi School in Shanghai's Fengxian district a month ago.

The 9-year-old students have few homework assignments, Qu said, but almost all of them play games on tablet computers every day.

"Digital gadgets aren't allowed during the breaks between classes, but almost all of the children's parents told me their kids use iPads after school," Qu said.

As more children succumb to iPad-mania, eye doctors remind parents that the gadgets may impair youths' eye development and raise the probability of shortsightedness.

Eye tests revealed that fourth-grade Tairi School students' eyesight declined slightly on average since last semester, according to the head of the school clinic, surnamed Lu.

Qu said eight of the 40 children in her class now wear glasses. There were only four before the Spring Festival holiday in February.

Zhang Rongfang, a retiree in Shanghai, said her 5-year-old grandson is obsessed with playing iPad games. The boy is unwilling to stop even when the family dines together in a restaurant.

"Everyone in the family says the boy is very smart when they see his little fingers darting here and there across the screen, but they don't know that he spends hours playing the games at home every day," Zhang said.