Do you ever feel like the light of your computer screen is burrowing into your eyes and making your head pulse? Or feel dizzy or nauseous after looking at your phone? While you might think these sensations are just eye strain or fatigue from looking at your screen for too long, they’re actually symptoms of a condition called cybersickness.
The work-from-home movement has grown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people have replaced 9-to-5’s and commutes with sweatpants, bedhead and Zoom meetings. Though the convenience is undeniable, it has also come with an increasing awareness of how difficult it can be to stare at a screen for 40-plus hours a week.
What Is Cybersickness?
Cybersickness refers to a cluster of symptoms that occur in the absence of physical motion, similar to motion sickness. These symptoms fall into three categories: nausea, oculomotor issues and general disorientation. Oculomotor symptoms, like eye strain, fatigue and headaches, involve overworking the nerve that controls eye movement. Disorientation can manifest as dizziness and vertigo. And several cybersickness symptoms, such as difficulty concentrating and blurred vision, overlap categories. These issues can persist for hours and affect sleep quality.
People can experience symptoms of cybersickness through everyday devices like computers, phones and TV. For instance, Apple released a parallax effect on iPhone lock screens in 2013 that made the background image seem like it floated or shifted when a user moved their phone around, which many people found extremely uncomfortable. It turned out this effect triggered cybersickness symptoms. Parallax scrolling on websites, where a background image remains static while foreground content moves as you scroll, can also elicit these symptoms.
There isn’t total agreement among researchers about why people experience cybersickness. One prevailing idea, sensory conflict theory, hypothesizes that it’s from a mismatch of information perceived by the parts of the body that regulate vision and balance. Your eyes receive information that tells them you’re moving even though your body isn’t. Everyday technology design can trigger this conflict between visual perception and physical experience.
The Dangers and Effects of Cybersickness
While cybersickness symptoms may initially appear benign, they can have enduring effects lasting up to 24 hours after device use. This may not seem like a big deal at first. But these lingering symptoms could affect your ability to function in ways that could prove dangerous.
For instance, symptoms like severe headache, eye strain or dizziness could affect your coordination and attention. If these side effects persist while you’re operating a vehicle, it could lead to a car accident. It’s unclear whether the user, software company or some other party would be responsible for injuries potentially caused by device use and cybersickness symptoms.
Not much is currently known about how chronic cybersickness affects daily life. Just as there is extreme variability on who is more prone to motion sickness, with some up to 10,000 times more at risk, some people may be more prone to cybersickness than others. Evidence suggests that women, those who don’t play video games often and people with poor balance may experience more severe cybersickness.
So, What Can You Do About It?
If you are struggling with cybersickness symptoms because you’re using your computer or phone for longer periods, there are ways to help relieve the discomfort. Blue light glasses are designed to block out some of the blue light waves emitted by your device screen that can lead to eye strain and sleep irregularities. Zooming in on a screen or using larger font sizes may also help reduce eye strain and make daily work more sustainable.
If you have cybersickness, don’t let it get you down. As researchers continue to find ways to mitigate and prevent cybersickness across all devices, people may one day be able to enjoy advancements in innovative technologies without feeling dizzy.
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