Do this and have no more Tech Neck

The most searched item on Google nowadays is ‘what is tech neck?’  I’d never heard of it and now that I have heard the term I looked it up.  Tech neck is a musculoskeletal disorder that develops when your neck is constantly bent over looking at your mobile device. It’s a muscle stiffness condition and, I suspect, it falls into the same category as carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow and text thumbs.

There’s also a study that suggests that children in their teens, and much younger, are coming into surgeries/clinics with musculoskeletal conditions that tend to develop in much older people and it’s all down to overusing and misusing technology. Normally one might start blaming laptops, mobile phones and tablets for these ailments but these are mere contraptions created by bigwig tech companies to make money. The people who are to blame for those conditions are the people who end up suffering from those conditions.

Think about it this way. If you’re in the kitchen and you’re being careless with a sharp kitchen implement or if you haven’t been taught or read the instructions on how to use it safely, and then you injure yourself, surely you don’t blame the kitchen implement? You might be put off from using it and put it away for a while after a nasty incident might have happened but always remember that the implement is not to blame for the injury.

You see, people are overusing their mobile devices. Everywhere I go I see that there is not a single person, even one who appears to be totally homeless, fixated on their devices. They could be going down an escalator, walking down the street or doing some work but not one of these activities has their total attention. Their attention is on their phone. I often wonder what they are looking at that has them totally fixated on the screen. Then I notice that Facebook is open or the TikTok app. I too have those apps installed on my devices but I don’t really have an interest in them. There are times when I might be having a coffee in a food court but one thing I am not doing is staring at my phone the whole time. Yes, I connect to a Wi-Fi to double-check on any important message or emails that might have come through but once I’m done, the phone goes back in my bag and I don’t look at it again unnecessarily for the rest of the time.  When I sit in a food court I do so to watch the world go by. I like to sip my coffee and see the sort of folk coming and going, I like to see what they’re eating and to watch the antics of a baby or a toddler.

If people just looked up and away from their phones, I assure them that they will find that the world around them is a far more interesting place to look at.

If people did this more instead of being obsessed with Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, they’ll find that they suffer from fewer physical ailments and the reality of what’s happening around them will not only broaden their horizons but they might mentally feel better.

Yes, we all have problems and pain in our lives, some have more than others, and yes, if people don’t have anyone to talk to about those problems and pain, then they immediately resort to posting about it in a forum and get advice that they can’t use. However, getting off your device and meeting a friend might help more and I’ve made quite a few acquaintances by not being on my phone all day but actively trying to strike up conversations with my neighbours. Strangely enough the neighbours with whom I have struck up conversations are not tech savvy anyway so they’re not active WhatsAppers or email readers but stop and talk in the corridor and they will.

Every tech neck sufferer should take a leaf out of my book and that of my neighbours’. We don’t have tech neck and/or text thumbs. Yes, some of us do have the odd tennis elbow issue but I assure you, that it’s not from the overuse of mobile devices and tablets.

So why not stop incessantly looking at your phones and look up and around you for a change?