Nearsightedness in American children has nearly doubled since the 1970s. In 1971, approximately 25 percent of the U.S. population between ages 12 and 54 was myopic. By 2026, that figure has risen to more than 40 percent. An estimated 9.2 million children between ages 3 and 19 in the United States have myopia.
Most parents who hear this statistic attribute it to screens. That is understandable — screens are the most visible new variable in children's daily lives over the past two decades. But researchers say the causal picture is more nuanced — and that the implication for what parents should actually do is importantly different from simply limiting screen time.
