08/10/2023

AOA Creates Mobile Game to Promote Eye Health

The game encourages players to take frequent 'screen breaks'

A leading medical association has translated its concern about gamers' eye health into an educational game.

In June, the American Optometric Association (AOA) released Blink Land, a free mobile game that offers tips for players about addressing eye strain via quizzes and other in-game challenges. As an eye-themed avatar bounces around a pastel-colored landscape, players are given vision-related statistics, asked to answer true or false questions, respond to cues to remember to blink, and given tips to avoid eye strain like the "20-20-20 rule"—taking a break from screens every 20 minutes for 20 seconds to look at something 20 feet away. The game also includes a link to a page on the AOA website where players can find an optometrist.

According to Dr. Belinda Starkey, an AOA trustee, the game is just the latest part of AOA's efforts to encourage people to see an eye doctor, now that more people spend more time on screens.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.