I was 12 when I first saw a leaf on a tree.

I had an eyetest in primary school, I couldn't read anything. Looking back on it years later I assume she thought I was joking or else just royally cocked-up!

It left me with some strange cognitive coping strategies - like I would always dictate what the teacher was saying rather than reading it off the board.

The offshoot is I have very poorly formatted but fast handwriting!

Then he proposed cutting the budget for school lunches. The Secretary in charge also did a number on those programs.

It was fine; our TV at home was just a lot closer.

Being studious causes vision impairment. We noticed that a long, long time ago.

It's less being studious, and more that being studious tends to be correlated with spending time indoors more. It's the spending time indoors that causes it apparently.

Not quite. It’s the lack of spending time outdoors.

Plenty of studies for that, too.

(not strictly for "outside" though, you can also look out of the window regulary, it is so that your eyes refocus and relax )

Or maybe reading and spending time inside tends to ruin your eyesight. Or maybe it does, but only because it takes time away from active pursuits like sports!

Does anyone have pointers to research that teases out the causes and effects here?

This is a nice summary.