I believe there is an unmet need in adaptive eye monitoring screens
(monitors, laptops, tablets, etc.) for people struggling with eye care due to
overexposure of screen time on technology. Biometrics is being used, and stuff
like facial recognition technology is becoming more advanced to the point where
eventually screens should be able to monitor your eyes to check their health
(redness, dryness, blinking time) after being on them for a period of time, and
adapt setting bases on those “checks”. I
believe the need is across all age groups, but my specific target will be the
ages of 13 and upward as they are the ones probably using technology the most.
The need has come from the various cases of eye reports, surveys, and studies
that are showing the causes of eye health problems due to being on screens for
prolonged periods of time. I believe there are more habits people are trying to
enforce to be able to combat excessive screen time usage, such as stepping away from the computer and remembering to blink after a certain period of time. I'm about 70% sure an opportunity exists.
High school Student (Junior)
- What is your average time on phone and computer screens?
A: 9 hours a day
- Do you feel eye strain or fatigue when looking at these
screens for a long time?
A: Yes, my eyes burn, typically at night after 3 hours straight
- Are there times you don’t want to look at screens but are
forced to because of assignments or tasks you have to do on them?
A: Yes, because most of the times I have to type things, especially
for my English class
- What do you currently do to combat the eye strain or
fatigue if you are experiencing it? Are you satisfied with the results?
A: I just go to sleep. Yes, very effective, my eyes feel pretty
refreshed, but I usually sleep for a long time.
- Do you believe technology should already be addressing
these eye health issues, or do you believe it is up to the individual to
monitor this problem?
A: Tech companies should already be implementing this so
technology should already be monitoring our eyes rather than us having to
monitor the situation. So much stuff
uses technology it makes sense.
College Student (Freshman)
- What is your average time on phone and computer screens?
A; 17 hours a week
- Do you feel eye strain or fatigue when looking at these
screens for a long time?
A: Yes, I feel eye strain, eye burn, and I feel like I must lay
down after a while. My eyes feel very tired after about 4 hours. I feel like I must
squint more to continue looking at the screens
- Are there times you don’t want to look at screens but are
forced to because of assignments or tasks you have to do on them?
A: Definitely, after doing homework for about 2 to 3 classes, I
don’t want to look at screens anymore. I’d rather read a physical textbook.
- What do you currently do to combat the eye strain or
fatigue if you are experiencing it? Are you satisfied with the results?
A: I try to look away from the computer for 20-30 minutes, and
then go back on. I believe its 70% effective. Not a miracle worker but helps
me. I also try to take a 10-20-minute break to refresh my eyes as well.
- Do you believe technology should already be addressing
these eye health issues, or do you believe it is up to the individual to
monitor this problem?
A: I believe individuals should be monitoring. Like on apple
iPhone there is nightlight, same thing with computers. Nobody forces you to be
on your phone or computer. Even despite all the assignments I do also try to
monitor how long I’m on a computer and how long I’m on phone screens for free
time. Tech companies are doing more than enough to combat this situation.
Video Production Specialist
- What is your average time on phone and computer screens?
A: 6 hours a day
- Do you feel eye strain or fatigue when looking at these
screens for a long time?
A: Yes, Definitely
- Are there times you don’t want to look at screens but are
forced to because of assignments or tasks you have to do on them?
A: Yes, most of the work I do is on computer screens.
- What do you currently do to combat the eye strain or fatigue
if you are experiencing it? Are you satisfied with the results?
A: I lower the brightness of the screens. Slightly effective
but feel like it could be better. Still strains my eyes.
- Do you believe technology should already be addressing
these eye health issues, or do you believe it is up to the individual to
monitor this problem?
A: A bit of both, but I believe technology should be addressing
the issue. Individuals should take ownership, but tech should be available to
address it.
Overall Reflection: I learned the opportunity seems
to be very dependent on each individual case. While it does seem like the
overall census is that adaptive eye screens should be implemented (high school
student and Video Production Specialist) there is also the belief individuals should
monitor screen time themselves. The Freshman college student surprised me when
saying that it was completely up to the individual to monitor their health and
that tech companies are doing enough. Maybe in a bigger sample size, more
people would say the same thing.
Summary: I still believe the opportunity is still
present at the time, though I may need more feedback to see if this is true.
The feedback I got was almost 50/50 in that people should monitor their screen
time for their own eye health rather than technology having to do that. I would
think it may be because if tech does address the issue people would spend even
more time looking at screens. Entrepreneurs should be adapting their opportunities
based on their feedback. If you get feedback that proves the opportunity really
isn’t there, you will save a lot of time, resources, and can just go back to
thinking of a new idea. But this also may depend on the “timing” of the
opportunity. It may not be needed in the present, but in the future it very
well could be. So, I believe it’s up to the entrepreneur to really see if the
opportunity is “future proof.”
