thane in the past oneandhalf years about 1400 kids below 12 years in the district have been detected with eye disorders according to records available with the state health department of the 1400 kids around 475 were detected with vision defects in the last seven months alone said officials from the thane district hospital alarmed with these numbers doctors are asking parents to take adequate precautions to ensure that their child is not detected with eye disorder unhealthy eating habits watching excess television too much exposure to mobile phones and spending long hours on the computer either to surf the internet or play online games are the reasons for such large number of kids having problems with their eyesight added an official from the hospital hospital staff said the numbers could be higher as the present statistics are based on those patients who have visited the government hospital for eye checkup i am sure there would be a large number of people visiting private eye surgeons if those figures are added to those patients visiting the government hospital the numbers would go up substantially said a hospital staff admitting that it is difficult for parents to identify kids with vision disorders at a early stage eye surgeon and dean of j j hospital dr t p lahane said the child may not tell hisher parents about any problem in the vision the parents have to be more attentive towards the childs behavior to spot such issues he further stated that parents should immediately consult doctors if they find their kid frequently rubbing the eyes blinking or holding reading materials close to the face getting an eye checkup done once a year will help parents in detecting the defect if any and also getting proper vision restored lahane added thanebased activist and doctor mahesh bedekar cited two reasons for the large number of children developing eye disorders at an early age failure of parents to keep their kids away from the digital world and lack of open spaces for children to take part in outdoor activities parents spend most of the time surfing the internet and watching television kids follow their parents and inculcate similar habits bedekar said he added open spaces in cities are reducing due to rapid development with shortage of grounds or open spaces kids are drifting away from games that involve physical activities and are getting hooked to tv video games or mobile phones