This newsletter comes out every other Thursday and hopefully provides you with thought-provoking content about the mundane, wacky, and weird. If you enjoy the newsletter, please share it with a friend and let me know your thoughts.
I was 23 years old, sitting in a business meeting with 15 other people. Someone was presenting a PowerPoint slide at the front of the conference room. They were droning on about the power of cloud databases when I realized I couldn't quite make out the numbers at the front of the room. There I was a 23-year-old who was losing his vision.
I first denied that I couldn't see as well. When my friends started calling me out for squinting, I quipped back my friend Joey's saying, “I have 20/20 vision when squinting”. Of course, that was wishful thinking. I needed glasses and I knew it. I went to the optometrist and got a perscription and voila! I could see clearly.
I am not alone either. According to VisionImpact, 3 out of 4 Americans need corrective vision. A quick brief on short-sighted vs far-sighted:
Shortsighted - easy to see things near but blurry when looking things far away like an exit sign are. Short sighted is also known as myopia.
Farsighted, easy to see far but hard to see things near like text on a page.
Shortsightedness is 4-5 times more common than farsightedness
According to Nature magazine "East Asia has been gripped by an unprecedented rise in myopia, Sixty years ago, 10–20% of the Chinese population was short-sighted. Today, up to 90% of teenagers and young adults are. In Seoul, a whopping 96.5% of 19-year-old men are short-sighted.
Why is there an increasing need for eyeglasses?
My assumed culprit was the increased time teenagers are now spending on screens. However, according to scientist, Ian Morgan, lack of bright light has a more significant impact on nearsightedness. Morgan tested his hypothesis in Guangzhou, China by boosting the amount of time students spent outside by 40 minutes a day. As a result, there was a 25% reduction in myopia in the schools that got the extra time outside. Here is a chart showcasing an elongated eye and the rise of myopia in East Asia
In a generation or two myopia has gone from around 20% of the population to over 80%. This rules out the possibility of genetics leading to the rise because genetics don't change that fast. Clearly, our environment has shifted so quickly that our eyes haven't been able to adjust.
Getting outside helps delay myopia, but with current trends, it is unlikely that future generations will spend more time outdoors. With perfectly controlled indoor temperatures and endless entertainment on our mobile devices, we are going to have to address correcting the problem of myopia in addition to preventing it.
🤓That's where eyeglasses come in.
Eyeglasses are a powerful tool for social and economic development, as well as personal wellbeing.
Depending on your job, eyeglasses improve productivity up to 32%; and increase monthly income by 18-20%. Yet, 2.7 billion people around the world lack access to this 700-year-old technology. Even with eyeglasses back in style, there are plenty of people who need glasses who don't get them.
I love this story from Seth Godin, the famed blogger, and marketer on the power of marketing. A few years ago, he took a trip to India with VisionSpring, which sells cheap reading glasses to the developing world.
In one village, VisionSpring set up shop and made its pitch. But only a third of the people who tried on glasses bought them. Godin wrote, “I was stunned that 65 percent of the people who needed glasses, who knew they needed glasses, and had money to buy glasses would just walk away,”. Here is a picture of people from VisionSpring getting tested for eyeglasses.
Godin managed to double that figure by changing the pitch. “Here’s what I did: I took all the glasses off the table. For the rest of the people in line, we said ‘here are your new glasses. If they work and you like them, please pay us three dollars. If you don’t want them, please give them back”. That changed the equation. The first pitch was an opportunity to see better and look good. The second forced the choice of having something taken away that was working or paying three dollars to keep it.
As we all spend more time indoors the need for corrective vision will only increase. Thankfully, technologies like better contacts and cheaper Lasik surgeries will provide us more ways to improve our vision. Additonally, scientists are currently developing bionic eyes which will help the 36 million blind people around the globe.
While technology marches forward, I have found yet another reason to get outside and embrace the sunshine.
Music I am enjoying
Jamestown Revival - California (Cast Iron Soul). I first discovered this song on my road trip to California six years ago. It was only a few months ago, that I learned the meaning of the song. Lead singer Jonathan Clay said "The more you cook with a cast-iron skillet, the better it tastes. The more you experience in life, the more you can truly appreciate life. It’s our humble opinion that life experience is the spice of life itself".
TED talk I recommend
5 dangerous things you should let your kids do
Although I don't have kids, I found this video thought-provoking. There is a disconnect with what parents fear on behalf of their kids, vs how kids actually die. Parents fear their kids will get abducted, but children actually die from car crashes and firearms.
Pic of the Week
I spent the week with Jenny’s family in Tahoe. We got the chance to go hiking, stand-up paddleboarding and camping. Another highlight was watching Chloe and Jenny's brother and his partner Sairey's dog play together.