• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

Eyesight on technology

Published: Saturday, 06 April 2013

When I was growing up, I read voraciously - for hours and hours a day.  When I was in year 7, my mum even went to my parent-teacher interview and complained to my teacher that the only thing I did all day was read!  And so my mum was always telling me to stop reading in the car at night, reading lying down and reading in dim lighting, because she said it would ruin my eyesight.

One of my biggest concerns for my and future generations is the impact of technology on our eyes.  Backlit computer screens, television, mobile phones, Google glass, tablets, etc.

They all invite us to stare fixedly on a small area for long periods of time.  We're told to give our eyes a break for a few minutes every 30-40 minutes, but I don't actually know anyone who does that.

Last year, from a combination of working and not sleeping enough, I've felt my own eyesight deteriorate.

Which is why I think it's important for us to think of our other bodily functions and senses.  Dogs are colour-blind, but have acute smell and hearing:  perhaps we could come up with an output that uses those senses?  More auditory output devices perhaps?

Otherwise, I think it's just our own personal responsibilities to cherish our eyesight by seeing that the computer is just a tool to use, rather than a device that can cater to all our whims.

Let's save our eyes by not marrying them to a screen all day, so they can continue to enjoy the beautiful natural world around us.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Nancy Fairfax Churchill Fellowship

    From January to March this year, I travelled to Germany, the UK, the USA and Jamaica to study "Strategies to get girls interested in science,...

  • create magazine cover

    I spent the summer working out of the Engineers Australia Victoria office with 20 university students.  As a result they put me on the front cover of...

  • The most successful students become university professors

    When kids are in diapers, their parents enroll them into primary school. If all goes right, the right primary school could mean the right high...

  • Don’t forget your notebook

    They’re cheap.  They don’t always look very pretty.  You can even get some with a yellow hue!  (And even if you don’t, but you leave them for too long,...

  • The Sandbox Global Summit

    How to create a Sandbox Global Summit Carefully select over 4 years, a group of 650 under-30 year-olds from around the world and cultivate...

  • Don't career plan

    No one knows what will happen in the future.  Just do your best at what you're doing now.  Then consider your options at the end of this project....

  • Al Jazeera Women Make Science Documentary

    From September to December 2019, Al Jazeera English followed me around and filmed an update on all my projects: Robogals, Aipoly, Teleport, my...

  • Remo Office Visit

    Remo Giuffré, Founder and Director of TEDxSydney and Founder of General Thinking, and his lovely daughter Lola (an engineering student at the...

  • Duke and Duchess of Sussex

    The Aubot team was invited to meet the Duke and Duchess of Sussex - that’s right, HRH Prince Harry and Meghan Markle! We showed them our robots. I...

  • YouthActionNet Global Fellowship Summary of the Week

    YAN was an amazing experience.  I believe the more you put into something, the more you get out.  And so I put in as much of me as I could, and I had an...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top