rdsmith@exodus.UUCP (11/28/83)
I haven't followed every article in this discussion, so please forgive me if I bring up a point which has been previously hashed over. Isn't it possible that all these questions about reading causing poor vision, etc., are looking at the cause-effect relationship in the wrong way? It seems to me that my case of poor eyesight/ high reading volume might be typical. The reading did not CAUSE the poor eyesight, but came as a RESULT of poor eyesight. Kids who aren't as physically perfect in the eyesight category may tend to avoid the physical play at which they can never compete as equals with perfectly sighted peers, and spend more time in their own world reading. Well, does that sound reasonable? Or am I about to be maligned across the world for my point of view? Randy D. Smith MH 7E-306 x5411 AT&T Bell Laboratories
usenet@abnjh.UUCP (usenet) (11/28/83)
I seem to remember reading somewhere a *long* time ago that when the research was actually done regarding the relationship between glasses and doing a lot of reading, the result was that the correlation was real, but the causality was in the opposite of the usually accepted direction. That is, being nearsighted happened first, the reading came later. One suggested explanation was that being nearsighted made it more interesting to read (deal with nearby things) than play catch (deal with far away things.) Rick Thomas ihnp4!abnjh!usenet or ihnp4!abnji!rbt
rene@umcp-cs.UUCP (11/29/83)
I read a lot, and I am nearsighted. However, my mother also reads a
lot, and she is farsighted. My father reads a lot, and he is both near
and far sighted. My sister reads more serious stuff than I do and is
more nearsighted, while my mother reads mostly mysteries and The
Destroyer type books. :-)
- rene
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Arpa: rene.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Uucp:...{allegra,seismo}!umcp-cs!reneseifert@ihuxl.UUCP (12/02/83)
Re: reading vs. playing catch
Even with glasses, reading may be easier. Glasses often distort
things, making it difficult to judge the trajectory of objects.
I had a *lot* of trouble with this. Thus I had a lot of trouble
with most sports. Contact lenses have helped a lot. I'm still
not exactly an olympic quality athlete, but at least I have
*some* idea of where the ball is going to come down.
Snoopy ("Here's the world famous volleyball star...")
--
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|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO| Dave Seifert
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|------------------|mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton) (12/03/83)
Glasses do distort your vision, but in my opinion it isn't enough distortion to cause trouble with sports. (At least in my case, if you wear bottle-bottoms it may be different.) Your brain will adjust in about 3 days to the distortion, then things will look distorted WITHOUT glasses. (If you have contacts, try going with glasses only [no contacts] for a week, then putting on your contacts: things will look distorted for a few days. I don't really recommend this experiment since you'll have to get your eyes readjusted to having something in them.) There was a classic experiment where people were given funny glasses that made everything upside down. After 3 days, their brain flipped everything over and things looked fine, but were inverted when they took off the glasses. After 3 days with no glasses, the brain flipped back. I wore glasses all through school and it didn't stop me from sports. The only hassle was the glasses getting knocked off, and an elastic thing across the back solved that. But I still read a lot.
whm@arizona.UUCP (Bill Mitchell) (12/06/83)
I don't have any reference for this or anything, but I once heard that
there is a positive correlation between intelligence and myopia.
Bill Mitchell
whm.arizona@rand-relay
{kpno,mcnc,utah-cs}!arizona!whmseifert@ihuxl.UUCP (12/06/83)
> I don't have any reference for this or anything, but I once heard that > there is a positive correlation between intelligence and myopia. Hmmm, maybe I should have my IQ tested, at 9 diopters I'd probably peg the scale! :-) I don't know about the brain getting used to "upside-down vision", but I never did get used to having lines curve, become straight, then curve the other way as they passed through my field of vision. Having objects change shape, size and apparent distance away can be quite disturbing. I consistantly got a headache 5 minutes after putting on my glasses. Remember those public service TV spots where they blur the picture *slightly* and say if your vision is this bad (and uncorrectable) you are legally blind? HA! Well, if it weren't for contacts I'd be building a seeing eye robot. There is *nothing* I would trade my contacts for. Snoopy (no, I don't own stock in a contact lens manufacturer) -- ) ( ) from the mildly opinionated keyboard of _)__________________ |OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO| Dave Seifert |OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO| ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert |OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO| |------------------|