Maxime Jalbert Locke has been told to spend more time outdoors. The 11-year-old has also been told to limit time on devices. The reason? He has been diagnosed with myopia.
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When asked what caused his myopia, he said it was caused 'a bit' by looking at screens.
About 30 per cent of myopia is genetic.
"My mum is shortsighted, I blame her," Maxime said.
More than half of Australians will need glasses by 2050 to help them see distances.
The predicted increase would see Australian rates slightly exceed the world average, with many risking blindness from severe myopia if the rise isn't stopped.
A new global study co-authored by Dr David Wilson of Brien Holden Vision Institute, forecasts that 10 per cent of the world's population will be at risk of blindness by 2050 if steps aren't taken to stop myopia turning into high myopia (requiring glasses with a prescription of minus 5 or stronger).
In China, where around 81 per cent of teenagers have myopia, students are being barred from getting too close to their work. Another school has glass walls and as well as glass ceilings to expose children's eyes to the light.
While about 30 per cent of the risk of myopia is genetic, experts say daily exposure to sunlight can stop the disease from progressing. One Chinese school is locking the doors for two hours a day, and refusing to let children back inside.
In Taiwan, where about 95 per cent of school leavers need glasses to see into the distance, parents can be fined $2200 for letting their children use devices for "unreasonable amounts of time". It is regarded as a form of child abuse.
And in South Korea, a study of nearly 24,000 young army recruits found nearly 97 per cent had myopia, including 22 per cent with high myopia, Dr Wilson said.
"It's very worrying," said Dr Wilson, adding that the rise in myopia has been linked to increased pressure to study, more time indoors and greater use of iPads and other devices.
Even more concerning was the high numbers of people – particularly young children and teenagers – with high myopia, around minus 5 or more, which can lead to diseases that cause blindness such as glaucoma, retinal detachment, glaucoma and cataracts.
Close work and lack of sunlight causes the eye to elongate, becoming more like a football than round , Dr Wilson said.
While there were no absolutes, he said, spending time away from computers and devices and outside could slow the progression of myopia.
Maxime was diagnosed as being shortsighted six months ago at a myopia clinic at the University of NSW's school of optometry and vision science.
The best time to slow the disease was when it was first diagnosed, said clinic director Kathleen Watt. "The less myopic you are, the less your risk is, so if we can slow progression, that's good."
Experts are applying the latest research to slow the progression of Maxime's disease.
As well as fitting him with multi-focal lenses, his mother drops a very weak solution of atropine (a medicine that comes from the poisonous belladonna in the deadly nightshade family) into his eyes at night.
Shopping for eye glasses – Taipei style
Julie Power
It was not even 11am on a Sunday morning outside an optometrist near a busy university in central Taipei but a dozen people waited for the shutters to be rolled up.
Customers were impatient, some asking a woman selling a handful of fruit and vegetables on the pavement nearby when the shop would open.
It was hard to believe Howard Eye Wear wasn't selling something illicit: night-vision glasses? Betel nut with a special filling?
When it finally opened on the dot of 11am, customers pushed aside the portable tables selling contact lens cleaners and other peripherals that were blocking the doorway.
Buying prescription glasses in Taiwan is nearly as common as buying a coffee. Nearly all school leavers wear glasses, finds research, and most are myopic. That means eyeglass shops are everywhere, making it a cheap and easy place to get a prescription filled inexpensively and quickly.
I bought two pairs – one for reading and another more complicated prescription for computer use – for about 6000 Taiwanese dollars ($250). The lenses were about $50 each, but the frames varied in price.
Overall, it was a good deal. But I should've had my eyes checked on the spot. Instead, I opted to use an eight-month old script from my Sydney eye doctor. That was a mistake. Take a new script or get your eyes checked there.
Note: Julie Power travelled to Taiwan as part of a cultural program sponsored by the Taiwanese Department of Foreign Affairs.
