Something Is Causing Our Eyeballs to Elongate

Human eyesight is degrading right before our eyes, and the problem is growing

Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

Human eyeballs are growing longer, from front to back, at an alarming rate, resulting in a spike in the prevalence of myopia, or nearsightedness. Among Americans, rates of myopia have increased from 25% of people in 1971 to more than 40% today, according to the National Eye Institute. In the major cities of developed Asian countries, the rate exceeds 80% among students as they graduate from high school.

But researchers and eye doctors, many of whom view myopia as a growing epidemic, are largely mystified over the mechanisms behind it. Evidence points to two likely and related culprits during the critical years (infancy to late teens) when eyeballs grow and develop their ultimate shape:

• Increased time focused on smartphones, tablets, and other up-close tasks in school and during heavy homework loads.
• Lack of exposure to bright daylight, which is thought to offer a protective effect against myopia.

The severity of myopia is also increasing. An extreme form of nearsightedness, called high myopia, nearly doubled from 2.2% of the global population in 2000 to 4% in 2020. It’s projected to reach 10% by 2050, according to the World Health…