For tired screen eyes
Digital eye strain is mostly a focusing problem: hours of near focus lock the eyes' lens muscles in one position, blink rate drops, and by evening the ache behind the eyes moves in.
What 20-20-20 does
The rule ophthalmology bodies repeat — every 20 minutes, look at something about 20 feet (6 m) away for 20 seconds — gives those muscles their one job change of the hour: focus far, fully relax near. It's guidance for strain relief, not a treatment for anything, which is precisely why it's safe to recommend and easy to forget.
The Paussible version
- Look Far Away — the eye break as a proper pause: screen dims,
sixty seconds or more, ends on your mark
- The free 20-20-20 timer — runs on this site right now: 20 minutes of
screen time, then 20 seconds of far gaze
- Pair it with Step Outside when the farthest available thing
should really be a sky
Small habits that help alongside
- Match the screen brightness to the room — a torch in a cave is hard on everyone
- Blink on purpose — reading quietly slashes how often you blink
- The top of the screen at eye level, so gaze angle relaxes slightly downward
The honest part
20-20-20 relieves strain; it doesn't fix dry eye disease, refractive errors, or anything else an optometrist should look at. If the ache is daily and deep, that's an appointment, not a timer.
Guidance: American Academy of Ophthalmology, digital eye strain. aao.org
Get early access — the pause, the timer, and ten friends in your pocket.