This is what happens when adults play eye spy...

By LUCY ORMONDE.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon looking for a giant cockatoo, a pig and a Rubix cube (amongst other over-sized items) from the roof of a Sydney hotel.

That sentence sounds weird, but I promise it’s true.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by OPSM. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.

It was a giant game of eye spy that was all part of the launch of a new app that’s aimed to help Australians check their vision – and encourage them to see an optometrist where necessary. Because apparently we’re not very good at taking the initiative to make appointments ourselves- even if we’re having trouble reading every now and then…

That app’s called the OPSM Eye Check App and I have to admit that the Mamamia team had a bit of fun yesterday afternoon holding out our phones and checking each other’s vision and ability to see how good our vision really is and whether we need to go and get some glasses.

What I’ve found is that my vision is never as good as I think it is. I’ll along to the optometrist thinking I’m dandy – only to discover my vision’s dramatically worse than the last time I was in.

Apparently we’re all supposed to do have it done every two years and that’s even if you’ve never had a problem with your eyes. (Preventative tests can apparently pick up on eye diseases like glaucoma and indicators for other health issues like diabetes and high blood pressure.)

That’s a fact I learned about today at the event. And I learned a few other things while I was there too.

I leaned that 37 per cent of parents have never taken their kids to get their eye sight tested.

I learned that 27 per cent of those parents say it’s because of time and 27 per cent say it’s because of cost – but what most parents don’t know that eye tests can be bulk-billed once every two years.

I learned that 59 per cent of Australian are having trouble reading or seeing everyday items – like text on a newspaper page – but that there are one million Australians have never had their eyes tested.

I learned that 19 per cent of Aussies have ignored someone they know because they haven’t recognised them and I learned that 12 per cent of people have tried to unlock the wrong car because of their shoddy vision.

So the question we want to ask you today is when was the last time you had your eyes checked? Is having trouble reading a problem for you? And when was the last time you had your kids’ eyes checked?

I only went a year ago, but I’m planning another appointment – but I’ve just learned that I might have an issue with colour vision!

You can download the free OPSM Eye Spy App from iTunes here or from Google Play here.

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