Cell phones are both a blessing and a curse for our generation. They provide us with easy communication and social media, but are said to be our downfall in social skills and communication in person. However, cell phones may be having an even more serious impact on our lives.
As shown on the graph, 84% of teens of the ages of 16 and 17 own cell phones. This is turning into a major issue because it is causing arthritis in teens.
“Doctors are starting to see growing numbers of young adults with arthritis pain today as a result of the gaming and texting they did as kids 5 or 10 years earlier.”, according to Everyday Health. A study was done and it proved that 1 in every 10 iphone users report pain in their thumbs, showing signs of the dreaded texting arthritis. That is 10% of iphone users having developing arthritis.
Skeptics could say they didn’t believe this because it could be pain from a different injury or just a minor ache that has nothing to do with texting. However, arthritis can take a long time to show symptoms. So even if you aren’t showing symptoms yet, it is very possible you will develop texting arthritis at some point in your life.
the texting arthritis argument is a good example of how third variables can be large contributors. Yes, young generations spend a ton of time on phones, but they also spend lots of time typing on laptops, taking notes in school, playing sports or an instrument, eating, and so much more. All these activities work the muscles and joints in different ways, especially in our hands. So despite the studies that have been done, unless any sits a kid down and has them do absolutely nothing but text, there is always going to be countless third variables contributing to the aches and pains (which could progress the arthritis) that have to be accounted for when coming up with a conclusion.
I think people could really get injury and arthritis pain. Many people are using their phone and computer in wrong way. If they continue using for a lone period. They can hurt they selves, most of the time, the symptoms won’t show until they are old. Many of the profession gamers have hang arthritis pain injuries. Some have to have surgury to fix it. This is a great post that can warn people!
I found this post very interesting because although I text and use things like my laptop thousands of times per day, I never thought that they could actually have a negative effect on my hands. I have heard things that phones can cause cancer, but never even considered that they could be causing arthritis. The research I did led me to one study in which a survey of 257 children was conducted on kids between the ages of 9 to 15. Both the girls and the boys reported pain, but the girls reported double the pain compared to the boys, and they sent around 50 texts per day. Although this is not enough evidence to prove any hypothesis, it may start making us think that soon enough texting could cause widespread arthritis in the hands. I found this study here (http://www.everydayhealth.com/arthritis/are-you-texting-your-way-to-arthritis.aspx).
I think to say that TEXTING is causing arthritis is kind of farfetched. First off, definition of arthritis and its symptoms would have been helpful to include in the blog but based off of what I know pain in the thumbs seems to be a pretty awkward symptom. I would understand neck pains perhaps because your head is bent constantly while texting , but along with that since when does texting make your thumbs hurt. I believe that there this extensive confounding variables that aren’t being considered like the current health of the subject. Also other technology use, if we are talking about teenagers 16-17 years old, 5-10 years ago we more than likely didn’t have an iPhone or any phone with that matter. Could computers, and video games have played a role in potential developing arthritis? Yes. That’s why I think to specifically say texting cause arthritis is rash.
A piece of data or study that could have been included in this blog would be another injury or physical detriments that cell phones have towards people. The reason for many car crashes are because of texting. There have been laws and fines instituted about no cell phones while driving but it is still not stopping people from texting or calling. I personally have seen people texting on the highway and swerving almost hitting on coming traffic. If you are texting and driving you are taking your attention away from the road, manually, visually and cognitively. Here are some o the statistics in this distracting driving cases: http://www.cdc.gov/Motorvehiclesafety/Distracted_Driving/index.html
I think that these types of topics are very difficult to discuss, just as it is a difficult to discuss the causes of cancer. Sure, texting could be causing arthritis, but so could every other thing that requires the use of your fingers. I have also heard that it can be caused from typing on a computer, holding your pencil wrong, driving for extensive hours each day, cracking your knuckles, etc. etc. This is not at all to discredit what you’re saying, but I do think that it is sometimes difficult to even consider causes of arthritis, since the list seems to be never-ending. Perhaps if one specific mechanism could be nailed down that causes the greatest number of arthritis cases, then that could be related to multiple factors, and it will give us a better idea of exactly what does and doesn’t cause arthritis. I definitely see that texting, though, could be a cause of arthritis, and it’s definitely a topic worth following, even if it may seem that everything is the cause of arthritis!
Texting directly causing medical issues has been a discussion proposed by many medical professionals for the past few years. Doctors have never had to deal with issues like this before, as there was no previous technological advances of this kind to cause them. One common injury I have heard of from texting is neck strains. According to the Los Angeles Times, compulsive texting is a leading cause of neck injuries in teenagers. To remedy the problem, the article recommends has a simple message: “Keep your head up.”