We are pioneers in a new world -- the digital world. As we seek to plant flags on new tech summits, it is important to be aware of the health risks involved in navigating this unknown and rocky terrain.
notwithstanding, the gadgets have already produced a variety of physical and mental maladies among the general public, which have been unknown or hitherto restricted to specific occupations. Living and working in the digital world entails long hours of sitting in one position, and requires movement of no part of the body other than the fingers. Such sedentary lifestyle is known to cause
ranging from
to
and even
. While metabolic syndromes are long-term maladies (and in a way more dangerous because one doesn't quite see them coming), the use or overuse of technological tools can lead to short-term maladies that can or cannot be corrected.
, the tingling of the fingers due to pressure on the nerve in the wrist with too much mouse movement and keyboard typing, is almost passé now, and is being replaced by
, the excruciating pain at the back of the neck and upper back from too much texting. Far more serious injuries can sometimes occur, like
, the dangerous clotting of blood in veins of the limbs from lack of movement - it is now believed that DVT afflicts more computer users than airline travelers. Apart from posture-related maladies, the eye, is arguably the most blatantly abused organ today. Staring unblinkingly at glowing screens on all sides, and at all times of the day and night, is known to afflict 140 million people with what is now known as
, a group of symptoms that include dry eyes, blurred/double vision, red eyes, irritated eyes and headache. Myopia, or shortsightedness, has now become an epidemic among the young; one-third of the world's population --
-- are expected to be affected by short-sightedness by the end of this decade. While it is easy to say that myopia is caused by children spending more time with the computer,
that the occurrence of the disease is also strongly associated with decreased time spent outdoors. Rickets, or "
", caused by vitamin D deficiency due to underexposure to sunlight, is on the rise again, fueled by increasing indoor times with devices. Physical illness caused by use of digital tools occur as a result of the following specific activities:
- Bad posture: Slouching while using the laptop, using ergonomically unsuitable furniture, and use of monitors, keyboards and mouse that do not meet health requirements are the most common culprits of most of the musculoskeletal and eye-related diseases caused by technology. Contact stress that arises from pressure against a part of a body, such as the lower back/seat, and wrists against a hard and/or sharp edge can cause nervous and muscular problems as well.
- Repetition: performing repetitive action such as keystrokes and mouse movements, especially in a job setting, is another common cause of maladies such as Carpal Tunnel.
- Duration of work: working long hours at a computer without breaks and changing tasks can lead to metabolic syndromes due to lack of exercise. Staring without blinking can cause eye strain.
- Unhealthy environment: being indoors, includes poor air quality, improper lighting, glare, noise and other conditions.
While physical ailments are diagnosable and therefore treatable, the gray area is when it comes to mental health. The
,
("no mobile phobia") and
(hyperchondria brought about through over-information of diseases on the Internet), are not portmanteau parodies but are well in their way to becoming real ailments of the digital age. And then there are maladies that hover at the border of somatic and psychosomatic. For example, there seems to be
. Is this connection somatic/psychosomatic or brought about by digital ubiquity? While there are proponents and opponents to including internet-addiction and tech-addiction to the list of mental disorders, the international mental health encyclopedia called 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' (DSM-IV) has included Internet-use disorder as a condition "recommended for further study" in its May 2013 edition.
that long-term Internet addiction results in alterations in the brain structure, which could contribute to chronic dysfunction in subjects with Internet Addiction Disorder. A few years back, playing video games was touted as exercise for the brain. There have been studies that showed that playing action video games can enhance visual attention and improve decision making skills for youth and the aged alike. This belief has found detraction
that video games can cause a decrease in gray matter content of the brain, and perhaps hasten Alzeimer. This opens up a new can of worms that must be tackled before drawing a firm conclusion one way or the other. The mental health implications of social media is another iceberg whose tip we have just managed to scrape.
is a real malady as reported in a 2012 article in Medical News Today. Social psychiatrist Ethan Cross takes this a step further and
. Social media addiction is also now a quantifiable malady - there is a psychological scale to measure Facebook addiction , called the
. As ever, do we succumb to mass hysteria, vilify technology and attempt to eliminate it from our lives because of the above list of diseases? The caveman would have never invented fire, had he feared the burn, nor would have the modern man laid feet on the moon. Why then, this fear-mongering article of a thousand words? Because knowledge is power. The power with which we can make choices and pave paths to eliminate the risks involved in taking humanity forward. Simple correlation observations ("my back hurts as I type this article, the bed is NOT the right place to work") and course corrections ("move to the ergonomic table in the study") can eliminate much of the damages of technology while allowing us to pursue the advancements (this article?) the digital age can offer.
Writing credit: Co-authored by Lakshmi, a Mobicip blogger and researcher who studies the effects of technology on humanity, parenting, and education.
Mobicip offers reliable and effective parental controls for computers, smartphones and tablets such as the iPad. Learn more at www.mobicip.com.
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