What's up with people using WhatsApp?
WhatsApp is so easy and hence very addictive that people of all age group tend to get hooked to it. It makes them overuse it. The young are especially always on it. But this type of overuse is also a misuse of technology and could lead to health ill-consequences on the users. Let us check on these adverse effects of Whatsapping excessively.
Whatsapping and orthopedic issues
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| Children and mobile phones (Source: Today's parents) |
Orthopedic doctors have warned that increasingly they are seeing in their outpatient clinics young adults who have finger and wrist joint pains and even inflammation and arthritis of the hand joints. There are rising cases of repetitive stress injuries and fractures involving the hand, arms, and back. Dr Raju Vaishya, President of Arthritis Care Foundation (AFC), New Delhi remarked:
"These days, young people are excessively addicted to social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. They are constantly using smartphones and tablets for texting, which has led to an increase over the past few years in the number of people complaining of aches and pains in their fingers, thumbs and hands. This pain and stiffness may be the result of a Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI), which occurs when the same motion is repeated over and over again, for a long period of time, causing inflammation in the ligaments and tendons of joints,"
Dr Ashwani Maichand, Senior Consultant and Director of Institute of Bone & Joint (MGS Hospital), New Delhi agrees and adds:
"In the age group of young children, longer use of gaming devices is associated with more pain,"
Dr Rahul Gupta, Senior Neuro and Spine Surgeon, Fortis Hospital has noted that 'radial styloid tenosynovitis,' (also called De Quervain Syndrome or BlackBerry thumb or Texting Thumb Syndrome) is increasing in those who overuse the thumb for texting.
Read here: Social Media use and PTSD
Children and smartphones
We see that children of the present generation tend to play less outside. In fact, they rarely do so. Most of them are on smartphones of their parents or elder siblings. They play video games on it and thus are mostly indoors with no or minimal personal talks with family members or friends. Such engrossing in virtual world is harmful for growth and development of the children and adolescents. They are no more into contact games on the playgrounds and their physical development suffers. They do not get adequate sunshine and thus their bones tend to be weak and fragile. Hence the overuse of particular muscles or bones during texting leads to stress fractures. Eyes are strained.
There is no interpersonal interactions. Hence their emotional and mental growth and well-being suffers. Incomplete or no replies are common on whatsapp and communication between people gets negatively affected. All this is not healthy. Whatsapp is not a healthy way of communication unlike the emails.
Wrong postures while texting
People text in all sorts of weird postures of body. Sometimes they are lying down supine in bed, sometimes in a couch, sometimes on the side. But the postures adopted are wrong and unnatural leading to muscle pains and even injuries. Neck and cervical spinal area is affected. Australian scientists have noted that in people who keep their head down continuously for long hours while texting on their smartphones have a bony projection called horns outgrowing from the base of their skulls. Nerves get compressed and stretched leading to neural problems.
How to avoid this? Dr. Rahul Gupta says:
"So resist the temptation to bend your neck forward or backward and especially avoid turning your head or tilting it to one side or another for prolonged periods. Take frequent breaks, and if you feel any pain, numbness, or tingling, stop what you're doing immediately and find a more comfortable position,"
Go out intermittently for that quota of fresh air which the body and mind needs. Avoid continuous use of smartphones and minimize texting. Use it sparingly and life will automatically improve.
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