Square Eyes
I've checked Wikipedia, Everything2 and Google. Since these three exhaustive collections of human intellect returned no results for my query on square eyes, I'm left to assume that I am the only person in the world who experiences the phenomenon of square eyes.
It is my understanding that the label of "square eyes" is actually a scare tactic used by resourceful parents to deter their children from spending excessive time with their eyes trained to a television. The natural imagery one conjures when warned that excessive TV time will cause square eyes, has just enough plausibility that an unsuspecting child may very well heed the warning to avoid having their face resemble two small televisions.
What then, is one to do when they actually experience square eyes? And what if the symptoms of square eyes are not actually visible on the face of the victim, but experienced only by the victim themselves? As I write this post, another bout of square eyes is taking over. The world around me has lost its natural curves, its smooth lines and its gentle edges. Every border I look at cuts sharply against its background. Every corner I look at is a hard and fast, no questions asked, right angle. Ultimately, the world through my eyes is square.
This is not a new phenomenon for me - I have vivid memories of long games of chinese checkers when I was young, that would inevitably result in the same experience. Connect Four was the same. The culprit in today's experience was a game called "drops", made up of a board of coloured round pieces. The trigger of course, is study of round objects. A television need not be involved.
The experience is so strong, and my years of being subject to scare tactics like "square eyes" have made such an impact, that I can't help but feel this is a significant condition. Is this the real condition our elders were trying to warn us about? Is the natural progression from this temporary view of the world to a visible change in my face? The experience is not dangerous or seriously debilitating, the symptoms slowly fade, and there does not seem to be any lasting effects, but I wonder, am I the only one that actually experiences Square Eyes?
Comments
I stumbled across your post whislt googling this condition, I am glad I'm not the only one that suffers! I have recently begun experiencing it on a more regular basis after downloading Connect 4 for my phone. I can't help but agree that focusing so intently on round objects causes straight lines to become very sharp and defined! anywho I must stop typing as all these lines are giving me a headache, back to the game I think!
Posted by: Martin | August 25, 2010 12:20 AM
I know this is a little dated but I've been having some discussions with my friends relating to the topic of "square eyes". This differenciates a little to your avenue as "square eyes" to all of the elder people I know is caused by excessive time spent in front of a screen. I currently spend 12-16 hours a day in front of a computer (sad I know). 9 for work and the rest well... needless to say I spend a lot of time staring at a screen. What I have noticed is that in a rectangular shape (to the same aspect ratio as my screen) I have an enhanced sensitivity to light and ability to focus (within that rectangle) which when compared with the light from my screen matches perfectly. In my mind I'm thinking that the eyes are a muscle of sorts, and, like any muscle that's well excercised it has grown and actually formed stigmatisms in my eyes. CRAZY!!! I now can say I have square eyes!
Posted by: Damien | March 10, 2011 3:34 PM