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I wonder if it can substitute sunlight for the benefits of kids' eyes. Research shows nearsightedness is caused by insufficient outdoor time (not by looking at near things like screens), mechanisms unclear.

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How does this research control for the fact that “being outside” generally involves a lot of focusing on stuff further away than a book/screen/etc in your lap? Did they have a cohort of kids who went outside and looked at a lot of bugs or sat around reading or something?

You'd also be changing the focus of your eyes nearly constantly as they saccade from one object to another. I agree that it's ridiculous using a study like that as a way to dismiss the conventional wisdom that staring at things close to you face for long periods of time is what causes nearsightedness since this study is proving the point that not spending a lot of time doing indoor activities is better for your eyesight.

There's been further research in this area that shows it's light exposure in general[1], not just outdoor time. There's also an interesting ongoing study to help determine the effectiveness of using bright artificial light as a treatment[2]

[1] https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2684235 [2] https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04923841

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