As use of hand-held gadgets increases, opticians fear the U.S. becoming a nation of squinters.
Chris Kwak, a 31-year-old financial analyst, spends hours a day glued to the tiny screen of his Palm Treo hand-held computer. He fires off e-mails, checks stock prices and recently plowed through the novel \"The Da Vinci Code.\"
But staring at the 2-inch screen is taking its toll on Kwak's eyes: He regularly pops Tylenol to dull the headaches he gets from focusing on the tiny font he has chosen for his device.
"It definitely hurts," said Kwak on a recent afternoon, as he stood outside his Wall Street office, reading messages in the glaring sun.
As use of portable hand-held gadgets soars, Americans are becoming a nation of squinters who spend hours hunched over gadgets such as PDAs, cell phones, game devices and iPods, straining to read small text everywhere from dimly lighted restaurants to sunny park benches. With mobile technology growing increasingly sophisticated -- allowing people to surf the Web, build PowerPoint presentations and watch "The Daily Show" on screens barely larger than a postage stamp -- many users say they are experiencing eyestrain.