Wigan optician warns of screen time damage to teens' eyes

A study of 2,000 parents for Ashton-based Scrivens Opticians and Hearing Care found 35 per cent of 13 to 16-year-olds now need glasses compared with just 20 per cent in 2012, while eye tests numbers remained the same.

Of those with a prescription, 66 per cent were short-sighted (myopic).

The business said that it may be that increased screen time has a bearing on the increase as it found that this age group typically spends 26 hours a week looking at their mobiles and tablets, watching TV and playing video games.