Smartphones Can Lead to Temporary Blindness, Researchers Find

“Dark Adaption” is “kind of like freaky,” optometrist says.

Researchers are linking smartphone usage to temporary blindness, calling it “Dark Adaption,” ABC 8 reports. The article cites the New England Journal of Medicine, which published examples of people looking at their smartphones at night and experiencing blindness of up to 15 minutes, which may happen after reading with one eye (such as when you are lying on your side).

Speaking with the news outlet, optometrist Dr. Albert Pang described “Dark Adaption” like this: “It’s kind of like freaky because of the fact that it’s going to scare you because suddenly one eye can see, one eye cannot see. … But again when you talk about is there going to cause any permanent damage, not any more than reading a tablet or reading your phone in the dark.”

Read more at WRIC