Much ado has been made of Nintendo's warning issued several months ago regarding use of the new 3DS handheld gaming system by young children. The essence of the warning is that children under 6 years old should not use 3D mode on the 3DS, or risk potentially harming their developing visual system.
Eyecare experts across the country disagree, claiming that normal use of the 3DS should have no negative impact on visual development, even in the youngest children. In fact, Dr. Michael Duenas of the American Optometric Association feels the 3DS may actually help detect vision problems in children that frequently go undetected by pediatricians, such as amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (small deviations in the direction an eye points). In older children and adults who experience eyestrain after use of 3D media, the 3DS could help identify more subtle vision problems like convergence insufficiency.
However, kids still shouldn't get carried away. Dr. Jim Sheedy, OD, PhD, of the Vision Performance Institute, says, “Is there a limit on how much a child should be viewing 3-D? Yeah. How much is it? I don’t know. Let’s use some sound judgment."
Dr. Sheedy reminds parents that the top health concern with video gaming in kids is still obesity and physical inactivity.
“Kids should be out running around,” he said.
Fascinating! Does this mean we can get tax write-offs for purchasing a 3DS for every lane in our clinics?
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