Reading Is … Bad for Your Eyes?

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Reading Is … Bad for Your Eyes?

Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) recently published a paper in the Journal of Vision attempting to explain how reading contributes to myopia. They were able to demonstrate that the images formed by our eyes during reading lack the diversity of contrasts, luminance transients, visual motion, and the visual changes needed to activate the major visual pathways that signal certain light stimuli, called ON pathways. (These pathways are highly well-preserved during evolution and are present in all sighted animals, from the smallest fly to human beings.) In animals with high visual acuity (eg, primates and birds of prey), these pathways are best stimulated by bright, high-resolution images moving slowly within central vision, such as images in the eye of a bird seeing prey one mile away from the sky. These same stimuli are believed to slow down the development of myopia.

The study compared the eye visual input and visuomotor activity generated by humans performing two different visual tasks that are associated with different risks of myopia progression: reading (high risk), and walking (low risk). The results revealed that multiple factors, including low light, low contrast, and lack of self-motion, make reading less effective at driving ON pathways than walking. Taken together with previous work, these results support the hypothesis that reading drives myopia progression by understimulating ON visual pathways.

OUTSIDE THE LANE

The Robots Are Coming

The newest version of ChatGPT (general purpose technology) recently passed the US medical licensing exam with ease and diagnosed a rare medical condition in seconds. Interestingly, Isaac Kohane, MD, PhD, a Harvard computer scientist, states that these recent GPTs have better clinical judgment than “many doctors” and diagnose rare conditions just as well as he would. “I’m stunned to say: better than many doctors I’ve observed,” he admits in the new book, The AI Revolution in Medicine, which he co-authored with journalist Carey Goldberg and Microsoft Vice President of Research Peter Lee.

Dr. Kohane states that GPT-4, which was released in March, answered US medical exam licensing questions correctly more than 90% of the time. Interestingly, GPT-4 can also give doctors helpful suggestions about bedside manner and improving patient communication.

As with all new technology, it’s not flawless, and Dr. Kohane’s book is full of examples of its blunders and mistakes. When asked about the issue by the book's authors, GPT-4 responded, “I do not intend to deceive or mislead anyone, but I sometimes make mistakes or assumptions based on incomplete or inaccurate data. I also do not have the clinical judgment or the ethical responsibility of a human doctor or nurse.”

My Two Cents

This study highlights just how impressive artificial intelligence is and shows the unlimited potential it has, notably in health care. As with all aspects of technology, however, we need to monitor its progress carefully, as ChatGPT itself leaves us with an ominous statement regarding its lack of ethical responsibility.

CAN YOU RELATE

Have you seen the movie The Sandlot? It’s about a small-town group of friends whose early lives revolve around playing baseball at their local park. This was also my life growing up in the south end of Bay City, Michigan. Every day during the summer, I would ride my bike to the sandlot to play pickup baseball until dinner time. Baseball was my life. I played nonstop for years and ended up being quite good at it, leading my high school team to a state championship game my senior year (we lost).

Throughout my life, I envisioned having a son who would be as passionate about the game as I was—and still am—and that I would one day be a “baseball dad.” Well, enter my (almost) 5-year-old son, Brooks. He’s in his second year of Tee Ball and has yet to be excited about it. It all peaked at his game last week, during one of our 90-degree April days here in Louisiana. You could actually see the moment that he lost all interest. Afterward, he told me, “I don’t like baseball, dad. It’s too slow and too hot.”

We all make concessions in our professional careers and personal lives for the sake of others, but you can’t associate your identity or self-worth with the actions of others. At work, that means accepting that factors beyond your control may diminish your influence on staff development and patient compliance, so it’s best to focus your energy where it can make the most impact. At home, that may mean coming to terms with having to scratch your dream of being a baseball dad.