ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The road trip that Think About Your Eyes (TAYE) is embarking on with You Tube influencer family The Daily Bumps is about to kick off, this month. As CLICK reported last month, a national public awareness campaign presented by The Vision Council and the American Optometric Association, will partner with travel company Airstream to send a YouTube influencer family on a road trip though the Western United States. Airstream’s brand is “focused on a life well-lived through adventure, making them a natural tie-in for TAYE’s campaign, ‘Seeing is a Gift.’”
The Daily Bumps have a robust fan following (their near-daily videos chronicling their family’s life regularly receive more than 500,000 views) as well as a family history of vision correction.
Earlier this week, TAYE reported the results of a new study. The organization has surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. parents of children aged two to 17 to understand their misconceptions about eye health and its importance, especially in regards to travel. The survey, which is part of the collaboration, showing that many families are not taking proper care of their vision, both before and during the summer holidays and on family vacations.
Before the August road trip began, the whole family received a comprehensive eye exam so they could be aware of any potential issues or needs before leaving, and to ensure they would be able to see all the sights along their trip. The family shared this experience online in a special and informative video.
According to Think About Your Eyes, 33 percent of surveyed parents said they are likely to wear UV eye protection when leaving the house, but only 13 percent said the same of their children—and when it’s overcast, only 8 percent of parents and 9 percent of children surveyed said they wear eye protection. In addition, 22 percent of surveyed parents said their children never wear UV eye protection, while 16 percent said they do not wear it themselves.
With 47 percent of parents saying that their children would spend four or more hours using screens while traveling to and from their vacation destination and one third of parents saying kids will spend more than six hours with screens during the vacation itself, it’s clear that vision protection and care is just as important on vacation as it is during the rest of the year.
Dr. Rick Weisbarth, chair of the Think About Your Eyes Advisory Board, said, “This partnership with Airstream and The Daily Bumps, the first of its kind for Think About Your Eyes, illustrates the wide-reaching nature of our message. By amplifying the need for annual comprehensive eye exams, we’re able to further spread the word about the importance of overall vision health, and that regardless of your age or physical heath, it is vital to detect eye problems at their early stages when they are most treatable.”
ECPs and others can follow along with The Daily Bumps on this summer road trip, visit them on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
More learnings from The Daily Bumps road trip with Think About Your Eyes will be made available to ECPs to share with their patients as the tour continues.