Stop for a moment. Hold still. Now, describe your posture.
The answer to this question likely tells a lot about your health, especially if you are using a mobile device. And, let’s face it, you probably are.
In fact, a recent study of smartphone users found they spent an average of two-to-four hours a day in 2014 hunched over their devices sending texts and checking social media. That’s between 700 and 1,400 hours a year, enough time to fly from New York to Los Angeles more than 115 times.
Proper posture—always important—is particularly critical when using a mobile device. It helps prevent the onset of text neck, a set of health issues ranging from chronic headaches to shoulder and neck pain, brought on by mobile device users holding their upper backs and necks in awkward positions for long periods of time.
You may know the poses and resulting soreness firsthand. But you need to truly understand the seriousness of the potential health problems that can result. Keeping the back and neck in odd positions can:
The chief culprit in bringing on these maladies is leaning your head forward and down when you use a hand-held device. True, we have always looked down. But mobile devices multiply the time our backs spend in awkward positions.
As a leading provider of commercial insurance, Liberty Mutual Insurance works with our commercial policyholders every day to help improve the safety of their employees in order to prevent the injuries that spark claims.
Here are four tips for maintaining the posture that will help prevent the long-term health implications of “text neck:”
This article was produced by Liberty Mutual and not by the Quartz editorial staff.
