Is the standard set too high when over 50% of the population has to wear corrective lenses?

Clear sight seems like an objective standard not a subjective one. I don’t want to grade on the curve for this.

It probably means that many people stumbled through life with poor sight.

You don’t really get glasses for the fun of it. I decided to get them when I couldn’t read the menu a Burger King. Mom has glasses, dad had glasses, I have glasses, sister doesn’t, and astrochuck doesn’t.

So the only thing I can conclude is that astrochuck banged my mom in the 70’s.

Don’t forget that the population is now aging, so we have many more people over the age of 40. In addition, awareness of visual disorders and testing techniques have improved, so more children are being diagnosed at an earlier age. And men now do make passes at girls who wear glasses, so it no longer carries a stigma.

Edited to add:
The norms are based on function, similar to the norms i use to measure hearing. Many people ask… “is my hearing normal for my age”? To which my reply is: “Your level of hearing impairment may be typical for people in your age range, but it is not ‘normal’... you are unable to hear many of the unvoiced consonant sounds, making it difficult to discriminate words at times.”

The same is true for vision… just because the majority of the population needs corrective lenses, so they are in the ‘norm’—but that doesn’t mean I want to drive on the highway with them not wearing corrective lenses!

Edited again to add:
Our youth are also reading and using visual devices (television, computers) at younger ages, and spending less time outdoors running around… this will change how the musculature of the eye develops… so I would venture to guess that proportionately speaking, more people are nearsighted than in the past.

Personally, I don’t think the standard is set too high. I think that 12 point type is way too small.

I don’t wear glasses (yet) so I’ve never thought about it until now…but I think you have a point.

My cynical side says the standards were raised to require more prescriptions and sell more glasses. Do eye doctors receive pressure from frame manufacturers they way MDs do from pharmacutucal salespeople?

My idealist side thinks maybe as technology has advanced, vision problems are more easily diagnosed and then need treatment.

I’m not sure, but good question.

My ancestors who couldn’t see well could still go off and run a farm or shoot deer. However, their descendants spend a lot more time reading stuff in order to make the money needed to buy the necessities of life. Thus, we have to get glasses to survive.

@Darwin: Most body copy is set at 11pt. so you’re really in deep. :^)

Leave it to you to have an evolutionary response. :^P

I think with more technology and increased use of it that there are more chances and ways people’s vision can be reduced through strain and misuse.

Back in the day they had books and signs; now we have cellphones and big tv’s. Which can hurt our eyes compared to books which barely do.

@cprevite – Give me a minute to get my magnifier, then I can respond. ~

@johnpowell Holy hell, that was funny.

@johnpowell My dog doesn’t wear glasses, but I think AstroChuck probably isn’t her father. I could be wrong.

Well, I don’t know about eyes, I certainly think it’s higher than it’s been before, but I also agree with what other people said about the age of the population and the increased strain on eyes due to screens.

But in terms of teeth, I think the standard is a little high, at least in the experience of my dentist it was. She would comment on getting braces for me sometimes, even though she didn’t act like it was imperative. She doesn’t comment on that anymore, but I did not need braces at all. My teeth are perfectly straight. I’ve had several hygienists who just assumed that I had had braces before because of the way my teeth looked, even though I’ve never had them.

I don’t really care about standards of sight, I just want to be able to see if that is a water buffalo or a wombat on the road up there!!!

<—At 41 Still doesn’t wear glasses 20/20…Go me..go me…“It’s my birthday.”:

@SeventhSense watch it, Evelyn will switch your pupils out with some blind homeless guy just for a chuckle. She likes to paly with people’s minds that way. she’ll probably trade them back in a week or so, when the thrill of it wears off.

@evelyns_pet_zebra
I offered her a burnt offering of last night’s pizza and she seems to be appeased.

im sure staring at computers and cell phones and stuff all day isnt helping….but i wear glasses and have poor eyesight without them, as do my mom, dad, and one of my two brothers. every other person i know who has glasses, when i’ve tried theirs on, they all seem pretty strong. i haven’t encountered anyone yet who i thought “wow this person does not need glasses.” ya know?

You have to account for the fact that we have 50% more people than just 20 years ago, too.

And for those of you not in your mid-40s yet…HAH! Just you wait. Our eyes weren’t designed to last so long.

You say “standard” as if it’s something like a math level standard that can fluctuate or be changed if we change it. This is really not the case, so no I don’t believe your theory makes sense. 20/20 vision (or better) is what most of us start with and it’s what we’ve used for most of our lives, thus our brains are “programmed” for it. Thus it is more comfortable to wear glasses and correct the impairment than it is to train the brain to use the lenses it now has equipped.

The increase in number of glasses is, like others have mentioned, due to the increasing age span we have. Our eyes are a very sensitive organ and they’re one of the first ones to start degenerating as we get older.

I have seen no evidence supporting the theory that increased computer use is correlated with increased permanant eye damage. In my research it has been shown to increase temporary eye strain and headache, but not long term damage. And FWIW I’ve been wearing glasses for longer than I’ve been a tech-head.

I agree some doctors probably prescribe glasses every chance they get. People just have to decide for themselves if they really need glasses. But, I do think that a lot of Rx glasses are given to prevent vision from worsening. So maybe the standard isn’t too high, optometrists are just trying to keep people from going blind.

I don’t really understand this question. People need to be able to see when driving, etc. I wear glasses, and I would never, ever, drive without them. No one would be safe!

@dynamicduo: ... but were you an avid reader in your youth? Those who read a great deal also tend toward nearsightedness because the muscles weaken.

I think between the aging population, and just increased knowledge and awareness of eye health, it makes sense that more people now wear glasses than in the past. Glasses are also now more affordable than ever before; while I’ve only been wearing glasses for about seven years, my mother (who’s worn glasses for almost 20, now) often remarks how much less they cost than they did when she first got them. I think that it’s not surprising so many people wear corrective lenses for some purpose; come to think of it, most of the people I know over about 25 do.

Everything I’ve read puts the number of people in the US and UK who need glasses for one reason or another at 68%. In China, it’s 95% with most being nearsighted. It’s not the standard being to high, it’s are lifestyles have changed, the access to vision screenings have improved and wearing glasses have become fashionable.