Is our society becoming more and more ignorant?
I've always thought so, and something happened the other day that only served to reinforce this. I went to get checked out for contact lenses - I've never worn glasses, although I have had a pair for the past 6 years, at which point I was told I was "only slightly shortsighted".. however its degraded a bit, and since getting this new pair I'm quite amazed at how the world really looks. Anyway, the contacts.. after realising how funky it was actually being able to see the world, I thought I might as well get setup to have that all the time. The lens guy sat me down for the consultation and checked things out, and informed me I couldnt have the daily disposable lenses I wanted - because in fact I was NOT shortsighted, I have astigmatism.
This was a bit weird, because I'd been told by 3 seperate people over a period of 6 years that I was shortsighted. He went on to explain that apparently optometrists don't usually bother to explain astigmatism to people, because its more complex to explain, and most of them dont want to know. Well I *DO* want to know. I'd been comparing my eye test results to other peoples, and was a little confused at how such small numbers (-1.25 / -1.25 combined with some weird angle distortions) could result in such a massive degredation in sight, and when I tried on other peoples prescriptions it made things much worse, when according to them it should have helped if only a little.
They explain it to you when you get contacts because the monthly/yearly's COST more. So they have to. I found it amazing that people wouldnt want to know and fully understand whats happening to their body.. I mean you wouldnt go to hospital and accept being told you were just having "an operation" - you'd want to know a bit more about it.. wouldnt you?
Part of the reason I'm so pissed about this is that it sort of confirms a few things I'd been thinking for a while. As they told me the glasses were for long distance, I never really bothered with them once I got out of tech and didnt need to read a whiteboard. However, as it is a distortion and not a distance related thing, I've actually been straining my eyes to hell and back for 6 years while trying to read computer screens, so I've probably had the level of degredation worsened by not having this fully explained to me. Thanks a lot optometrists out there, much appreciated.