A few days ago Nintendo issued a warning that children under 6 should not look at the 3-D screen on its new 3DS hand-held device because “ it could harm eye development”. This left pediatric ophthalmologists, some of them world-leading authorities on childhood eye development, scratching their heads.
The consensus is: No known harm could possibly come to children’s eye development from any kind of video game, 3-D or otherwise. So why the warning? There is, as yet, no follow-up from Nintendo. It appears to us at Fort Lauderdale Eye Institute that Nintendo was acting out of an abundance of caution. This would be similar to a warning which appeared a few years ago. A label appeared on Superman costumes warning: “Wearing this suit does not enable the wearer to fly!” It seems that, once again, our overly litigious society triumphs over common sense.
