It was quite early in my life when I was diagnosed as myopic. It all started when I found that my classmates could easily read things on the blackboard that I could not. It culminated in my permanently acquiring a bespectacled look. The only consolation was that this bespectacled look was often equated with being very studious. But then a studious look never failed to draw the much dreaded attention of the bullies in the school. And when that attention led to a scuffle, I had to pay more attention to defending my glasses rather than myself.
My vegetarian family got much worried over this development. They decided to substantially enhance my quota of dairy products. The increase was almost on the same scale as that in our legislators' salaries and perks. Yet it failed to make any impact on the central issue of nearsightedness. Though it impacted the central parts of my anatomy in a profound and inflationary manner. The inflation continues unabated rendering the hope of any rate, sorry, weight cut futile.
People looking at my myopia as a handicap did at times make me feel miserable. However with the advent of smartphones, this handicap has turned into a tremendous advantage. Here is how.
Computing, entertainment, and communication have been converging together so a single device can offer all of these. Simultaneously there is a trend towards miniaturization. So desktops have become laptops, laptops have becomes netbooks and finally you have tablets that you can hold in one hand and use with the other. Some of these tablets are phablets. That merely means that they have the functionality of a phone too. Now if your device, apart from being a computer, audio and video player, a camera, a radio, a clock et al, also has to be a phone, especially a mobile one, the weight and size do become important. Lot of experimentation is going on here with all kinds of screen sizes varying from 2.8" to 10" being tried out. I have gone for a device that is a little short of 5" mark, fits into my pocket, and may appropriately be called a mobile device.
With today's content heavy applications (apps) and screen sizes at around 5", only two categories of users can make fullest use of these gadgets. These categories are very young and very myopic, pinch & zoom notwithstanding. Myopics often pride themselves on being able to read even the fine print at the bottom of wristwatch dials. (It is a different matter that while focusing on the fine print they sometimes miss the bold print much to their chagrin.) This ability to read the fine print enables them to use these modern gadgets as much as youngsters with fine near and far sight.
A normal middle-aged person would need heavy reading glasses for the purpose. There is a considerable risk of the pair of glasses sliding off your nose as you peer down at your phone. The myopic, on the other hand, would just remove his glasses and use the gadget with the eyes of a new born.
Time to raise a toast to myopia. And do keep this in mind before considering a laser correction to your eyesight.
My vegetarian family got much worried over this development. They decided to substantially enhance my quota of dairy products. The increase was almost on the same scale as that in our legislators' salaries and perks. Yet it failed to make any impact on the central issue of nearsightedness. Though it impacted the central parts of my anatomy in a profound and inflationary manner. The inflation continues unabated rendering the hope of any rate, sorry, weight cut futile.
People looking at my myopia as a handicap did at times make me feel miserable. However with the advent of smartphones, this handicap has turned into a tremendous advantage. Here is how.
Computing, entertainment, and communication have been converging together so a single device can offer all of these. Simultaneously there is a trend towards miniaturization. So desktops have become laptops, laptops have becomes netbooks and finally you have tablets that you can hold in one hand and use with the other. Some of these tablets are phablets. That merely means that they have the functionality of a phone too. Now if your device, apart from being a computer, audio and video player, a camera, a radio, a clock et al, also has to be a phone, especially a mobile one, the weight and size do become important. Lot of experimentation is going on here with all kinds of screen sizes varying from 2.8" to 10" being tried out. I have gone for a device that is a little short of 5" mark, fits into my pocket, and may appropriately be called a mobile device.
With today's content heavy applications (apps) and screen sizes at around 5", only two categories of users can make fullest use of these gadgets. These categories are very young and very myopic, pinch & zoom notwithstanding. Myopics often pride themselves on being able to read even the fine print at the bottom of wristwatch dials. (It is a different matter that while focusing on the fine print they sometimes miss the bold print much to their chagrin.) This ability to read the fine print enables them to use these modern gadgets as much as youngsters with fine near and far sight.
A normal middle-aged person would need heavy reading glasses for the purpose. There is a considerable risk of the pair of glasses sliding off your nose as you peer down at your phone. The myopic, on the other hand, would just remove his glasses and use the gadget with the eyes of a new born.
Time to raise a toast to myopia. And do keep this in mind before considering a laser correction to your eyesight.
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