Spending way too much time on your smartphone? Get ready for a spine surgery, warn researchers

Looking at our smartphones all day every day we are gradually putting unusual pressure on our spines, a new research paper now suggests, to the equivalent of carrying a seven-year old on our shoulders each time we stoop down to answer a text. 

The researchers measured the weight resting on our cervical spine at different angles, and at 60 degrees, or the typical inclination you text with, if you are too lazy to lift the phone up a bit, the pressure was equal to 60 pounds more than if your neck was in an upright position. Here's what they found out, too:

Forget about the so-called BlackBerry neck, as we will all be walking around with deep wrinkles there from tilting our heads forward all the time anyway. The real danger is what the scientists called "Text Neck," as the abnormal angle of the head for such prolonged periods while operating our smartphones will result in spine damage very quickly, and bone formations that might require surgery to fix as you age. Well, that generation is already doomed, it seems, but still, for the future, try to raise your phone as high as feasible while working its touchscreen for a longer period of time, and keep your head up straight.

source: SurgicalTechnologyInternational (PDF) via Gizmodo