No, smaller Facebook print won't make you go blind

Facebook on Wednesday made an unannounced tweak to its home page design, shrinking the font size that appears on users' "news feeds" of their friends' activity across the site. Facebook, in a statement, said it's "constantly testing new ways to make the site more efficient for people."

But reactions across the social Web ranged from "I feel like I'll go blind from reading its updates" to "What kind of bionic carrot-flavored crack rock are the Facebook developers smoking to make the font this small?" There were even accusations of ageism, considering that the over-55 demographic is one of the fastest-growing on Facebook and that older eyes could have trouble reading smaller print.

Not so fast. If your eyes are hurting from the text on Facebook's home page, they were probably already subject to eye strain--the term for the discomfort, dryness, redness, and other unpleasant symptoms that can result from focusing on a computer screen or other object for too long--long before you loaded up the social network to check up on your FrontierVille homestead or to remove some unflattering photo tags. Eye care professionals say the smaller font size is unlikely to affect users' vision or eye health any more than its larger-type brethren. Eye strain, too, is temporary and very preventable.

For more on this story, read Why Facebook isn't making your eyeballs bleed on CNET News.