My good Canadian friend Paul talked about his experience getting new glasses last month, and in that same post, we realized that our friendship is in shambles. I had no clue he wore glasses, and he thought I wore mine semi-regularly. We cleared things up and are working on getting our friendship back on track.
Since then, I’ve been super self-aware of my glasses and when I wear them. Here’s a short background on how I got glasses and why: I got them in high school because I was taking an American Literature class (that still haunts me to this day) and the text in the book was wicked small and I was starting to get headaches from reading it. (Well, that and the pieces were incredibly boring.) I have like the lowest prescription available, just enough to take the edge off straining my eyes. Since high school, I think I’ve had about four different pairs of glasses, but the same low prescription. I like the style of the ones I have now, and I got them ~two years ago.
Most people don’t know that I have them, and I guess it’s deceiving when I wear them in pictures because it makes people think I wear glasses more than I do. I wear them for computer work and reading, which has always been the case, but lately, I’ve realized I can’t read words on the TV screen.
That might sound a little dramatic. I can read words on the screen or the TV guide, but they’re fuzzy. I feel like I have to try really hard to see what’s on at 8:00 p.m. or what the latest SVU is about. So I’ve also started wearing my glasses to watch TV. I feel like it’s a small step toward eventually needing glasses 24/7, like both of my parents.
I used to wear my glasses during classes to read the board or PowerPoint because it made the words a little sharper. We had a presentation at work a few weeks ago, and the presenter was using a big TV on the wall to show the PowerPoint. I had to wear my glasses then to make it easier to read. (This was also an 8:30 a.m. meeting that I went to because I heard there would be donuts. There were. And I did learn a few things from the presentation, too, so.)
I’m on my own insurance now at age 24—pro and con of having a job with good benefits—and since I now have to wear my glasses to watch TV, I probably should figure out what my insurance covers for eye care and make an appointment. My parents and I normally go to Target Optical, and I’ve been ignoring the “We haven’t seen you in a while!” cards I get in the mail once a year. I figure that since I don’t need glasses to physically see, then I don’t have to go every year. But this might be the year I should go.
Moral of the story: I should wear my glasses more than I do, and I’m really bad about doing so. I think one of my issues is how smudgy they can get and that makes me not want to wear them, but I have a whole box of eyeglass wipes from Costco in my desk drawer, so it’s not like I have a valid excuse.
How do you make yourself get into a habit of something? Any ideas of how I can trick myself into wearing my glasses?
Strikeouts + Sprinkles 
What I took away from this is bad eyesight may be contagious and after reading my post about glasses, your eyesight got slightly worse. Sorry about that. My eye doctor suggested that I wear my glasses full time, like every second of the day, but I don’t see the point in that.
I hate how smudgy my glasses get too and found the wipes didn’t really do much, so I just use lukewarm water and hand soap (not the overly scented ones). The internet suggests water and dish soap. Maybe you can trick yourself into wearing your glasses more by keeping them around in the places where you would wear them. If you see them sitting there maybe you’ll feel you’ll about not giving them any attention. This just got weird. I think once it becomes too frustrating to squint at the TV, it’ll be less of a hassle to wear them.
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I wear my glasses all the time (except when I go running, and I’m surprised I haven’t ran into a telephone pole yet) and I second the warm water and dish soap thing. Not only does it clean the glasses very well, it also seems to keep the smudging to a minimum!
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Now that you mention running and wearing glasses, I saw someone running today and wearing glasses, and I’m like, that doesn’t seem like fun but probably needed for survival. I’ll have to use warm water and dish soap then!
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I always wonder how people do that… Don’t the glasses just slip down your nose or jump around?! I run ‘blind’ when I’m on my usual routes around my house, but I wear contacts for longer runs or trail runs. Yes, dish soap and warm water is the best cleaner!
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Yeah, that seems a little suspicious… Do you wear your glasses all the time? Or are you rebelling against your doctor?
Since I can’t see text on the TV, I think that’s more of an incentive to wear my glasses. It’s putting a damper on my QVC watching since I can’t make out the text haha.
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I guess I’m rebelling, but I don’t see the point in wearing glasses if I’m eating or on a computer, or anything that isn’t watching TV/driving/staring at something in the distance.
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I didn’t need to start wearing glasses until I was 38 and have a pretty low prescription as well. I only need them for driving and seeing long distance. Which stinks because if I have my contacts in, I have to bring my readers along so I can read menus etc.
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I feel like I’ll need glasses later in life, too. It just feels inevitable haha.
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The joys of aging! HAHA!
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I started wearing them when I was 22 because I was getting headaches reading, started staring bug-eyed at traffic lights and would get dizzy changing channels. I never had the phase where I only needed to wear them some of the time; I went straight to if I’m up, I’m wearing them.
I’m not sure you’ll have to be “tricked” into wearing them more often. You’ll just need them more and more and it’ll just happen.
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So you went from 0 to 100 with your glasses haha. I’ve been a little better about wearing them to watch TV, especially if I’m watching something with text on the screen. I find that I don’t have to strain as much to make out what it says.
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I started wearing my glasses in grade 4 and would forget them in my desk at school all the time so watching tv at home wasn’t fun. So I just stopped taking them off haha! Now my eye sight is HORRIBLE. But I love my glasses! I thought my eyes were getting worse so I just had an appointment and they are exactly the same as two years ago haha
Although I might be the odd man out here when I say I use the micro whatever cloth that came with them and it works amazing! I never use soap/water on them. Unless I have paint or something on them.
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I definitely should make an appointment for this summer just to check if I’m good with what I have or if I need a stronger prescription.
I used to have a cloth in my case but it disappeared like a year ago… so I use the eyeglass wipes from Costco. Those work well, but since I take them on and off a lot, that’s how I get the smudges.
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Ahh my glasses stay on all the time so less chance for smudgies. I have so many of the cloths lol one in my work bag and one in my purse, one beside the couch, one in my bedroom, one in my sunglasses case. My sunglasses always have smudgies probably cos of the on/off factor lol
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I was the U-turn Queen until I got my glasses. Now, I wear bifocals with an invisible line. I’ve got beautiful purple frames that go great with my hair color. Make your glasses accessorize your outfit
It helps!
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The frames I have now are a tortoise shell pattern, and the pair I had before were blue. I do like the funky colored glasses; maybe it’s because I’ve dyed my hair blue and purple before haha.
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I started wearing glasses for the same kind of reason, I got a low prescription for seeing the whiteboard in class and then a new pair of the same low prescription that I only wear when I drive at night. No one really knows I wear those, but I’ve started wearing blue light glasses so now all my coworkers think I wear glasses lol but I can’t even tell people if they work or not because I never wear them consistently!
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I feel like if you’re not completely blind and can still function, it’s hard to wear them consistently. But I’m glad that others have low prescription glasses, too; I thought I was the only one haha.
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I started wearing glasses in middle school to see the board during class. I would carry them around and only wear them when I needed them. Now I wear glasses to drive but I know that I probably need to wear them all the time. I’m planning on making an eye appointment soon and need to get used to the idea of needing glasses full time.
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[…] finallymade an appointment to get my eyes checked and get new glasses. The last time I went to Target Optical was two years ago, and with my new insurance, I can get an […]
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