Almost everybody owns a smartphone. It’s a convenient form of communicating with other people and accomplishing certain tasks using a simple gadget that you can bring anywhere you go. Like any other form of technology, smartphones have negative effects too. It impedes effective face to face communication with others and can even distract us from being productive.
Other than that, a new study also suggests that using our smartphones and tablets for long periods of time may cause ‘tech-neck’. This is a term used by dermatologists to call the substantial loss of skin elasticity especially in the neck area, causing it to crease and making jowls sag and drop. This usually happens to people under 40 who habitually stare down at their smartphone and tablet screens up to more than a hundred times daily. Sagging skin in the lower face and neck region is a normal occurrence for middle-aged individuals but now, it can also happen to people in the younger generation because of too much use of our phones and tablets.
‘Tech-neck’ can be characterized by the appearance of skin lines along the chin area, which is most probably caused by constantly looking down and bending our necks when using our digital devices.
looking down and bending our necks when using our digital devices.
Unfortunately, ‘tech-neck’ is not the only health risk associated with the prolonged use of gadgets. We are also at risk of hearing loss due to listening to very loud music using our headphones. Furthermore, tendinitis and severe pain in the wrist and forearm may also take place because of repetitive typing using the small keyboards in our phones and tablets.
