Screens and teens with migraines: visually sensitive learners in contemporary digital classrooms

Technology-rich school classrooms incorporate digital media in the form of computers and interactive whiteboards into the visual learning environment. Whilst evidence-based research shows use of technology improves academic outcomes for high school students in general, there are limited data available on the consequences of digital media use for high school students with migraine. This article highlights the historical issues with light-emitting media, the physical parameters that are changed by adoption of these digital media into the classroom and some of the adverse effects caused by visual light stimulation. The article concludes by calling for further social research to better understand adjustments needed by students with migraine in the digital media classroom, and the policies needed to support image parameter guidelines for schools. In this article, the term visual light sensitivity refers to any student’s abnormal sensitivity to optically sighted light leading to negative responses, including that of migraine.