Do You Suffer From iPosture?

Do you walk around like a hunchback all day typing on your phone, tablet or other device? Are you hunched over your computer all day? If you answered yes to these questions, you may be suffering from iPosture!

Do you suffer from iPosture? Tablets and smartphones are causing an epidemic of back pain as people hunch over devices. 84 per cent of 18-24 year olds have admitted to suffering back pain in the last 12 months, according to a survey by Simplyhealth. The results also showed almost all age groups spend as much time in front of a PC, laptop or tablet screen in total as they do asleep in bed.

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Then WHY do we keep trying to put people back into the stone age?

WHY do we spend 8 hours a day sitting in front of TINY screens or trying to do WORK on our phones or tablets?

24" screens are CHEAP. My work desktops are nice and ergo.

My home screen is 47" and my chair has a headrest. I NEVER have to lean forward or hunch over a device.

So... maybe it is time to rethink the death of the desktop?

Or at least finally make all our portable devices support HD wireless video to our LARGE and more ergonomic displays?

I just don't know why people willingly subject themselves to tiny screens and poor input when there are alternatives literally lying around everywhere for very little money.

Advil said:

Or at least finally make all our portable devices support HD wireless video to our LARGE and more ergonomic displays?

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I agree with your entire post, but this part makes me think of the masses of people hunkered over walking into man-holes and tripping over any/everything. iDiots have to do their 'really' important shit on the move and even with Glass type apparatus, sure they may have better posture, but they'll still have broken ankles.

Kinda odd, because i was a certified bookworm growing up. I literally spent hours reading pocketbooks and even walk home reading them. However, the way i held a book is different from how i hold a tablet now.

I actually had a long post on how i compared them. But rather than post that wall of text, lets just say that i twist and scrape books to make them conform to what makes me comfortable. Tablets are expensive and fragile so i end up twisting myself to keep them from getting dinged.

I prefer reading on my 23" monitor from my high backed chair.

The thing they leave out...most people even before smartphones and tablets had shitty posture, lumbering or hunched over like a sack of potatoes

Flexible displays should help. Wish they'd make screens more sensitive to people touching them for input and just grabbing on to them.

My phone is 6.5 inches and 1080p so it's pretty good for reading the problem is, like Sly said, that you have to hold them in a special manner as to not touch the screen...something you don't have to do with books.

So now we can add hunchbacks to the near sightedness associated with phones & tablets for kids.

Progress.

The results also showed almost all age groups spend as much time in front of a PC, laptop or tablet screen in total as they do asleep in bed.

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Filthy casuals...

why do people always add an "i" to every single thing out there

Skripka said:

The thing they leave out...most people even before smartphones and tablets had shitty posture, lumbering or hunched over like a sack of potatoes

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Yeah, but they do it a lot more with these new gadgets than before. Ergonomically shaped devices were making a good impression on the early gadgets, they were bulky but they fit well in your hand. Now we have flat bricks, what happened?

Sly said:

Yeah, but they do it a lot more with these new gadgets than before. Ergonomically shaped devices were making a good impression on the early gadgets, they were bulky but they fit well in your hand. Now we have flat bricks, what happened?

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Ergonomics of devices has next to nothing to do with it. Ten and twenty years ago people walked down the street like a slab of meat with shoulders slouching and backs hunched. Most people regardless of device background have poor posture.

It is anything but a new trend.

Blaming the devices is like saying smart phones are why most kids don't know how to properly tie a shoestring knot that isn't a granny knot.

Advil said:

Then WHY do we keep trying to put people back into the stone age?

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It's a trend thing I believe. I know quite a few people who replaced their desktop with a laptop just because they think laptops are cool, and it's the future (at that time). Now the same people walk around with huge tablets just because it's popular.

Skripka said:

Blaming the devices is like saying smart phones are why most kids don't know how to properly tie a shoestring knot that isn't a granny knot.

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That's pretty much what it is isn't it tho? The way you hold them is different, how you prop them up, how you hold them, how you shift the weight from one hand to the other. As i've said, i read a lot, i'm the kid that hangs out in the library and a regular at used bookstores, and after a few (okay, a lot of) stiff necks, you tend to learn the correct postures, even if it meant ruining the book a bit.

I've had four tablets so far, and even with sleeves and cases, i'm extra careful not to get scuff marks on them. How carefully do you hold your tablets to avoid getting the edges dented? Especially compared to how you hold your books? Do you still hold them upright at the proper angle? Or do you just lay them flat on the table, which i assume what most tablet users do, which of course, meant you bending over them. Between the book and the tablet, even among my family, books tend to be held up properly more than tablets. There's just something in the way they're made and used that has them promoting more bad posture.

PS. It takes more effort to hold up an iPad than a book. Even if they're a bit lighter, you tend to hold tablets securely as if they weighted five pounds. Try it. Compare how you casually hold a book to an iPad.

Hornet said:

It's a trend thing I believe. I know quite a few people who replaced their desktop with a laptop just because they think laptops are cool, and it's the future (at that time). Now the same people walk around with huge tablets just because it's popular.

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That's pretty much why i'm not a fan of laptops. They're more expensive, the keyboard is cramped, and having the monitor attached to the keyboard means you're hunched over it. Either you have the screen at a comfortable height but end up with sore wrists, or have the keyboard at arm level and have stiff necks. Ironically, we've had ten laptops, usually either company issued or gifts, we still go back to the desktops for real work. When we have to use the laptop for a long time, we use a USB keyboard. The only laptop i've actually bought outright is a netbook, and it ends up being turned into a nettop when i get to the office or home. They're for portability, not for comfort. I really don't get why people buy them and then it never leaves their room 95% of the time.

As for tablets, i've had four of them. An Archos101, a TF101, a TF300 and an iPad3. They're great for quick browsing, but i know enough to not sacrifice comfort just to accomodate them. Yeah, if you commit too much to a gadget, rather than the gadget becoming a tool, it becomes the other way around and you start altering your habits to accomodate it. If a gadget is weak in an area, don't force it and use something else. We've had people bragging about how fast they can type on a touchscreen, but then again, it's not a special skill if you just use a desktop to answer your mail instead.

With my current 17" laptop the display is almost at an ergonomic height, so it's relatively comfortable to work on. The 13" MacBook Pro next to it on the other hand is an ergonomic's nightmare. The display is always at the wrong height, the keyboard has excessive spacing between keys and requires a lot of multi-key presses to accomplish what would take just one key press on the Windows laptop (such as Del, Home, End, etc.).

I do use my 4.7" Galaxy Nexus phone while on the road as well, but only when necessary. Inputting text on it cramps one up after a while, a good sign that it's not a good thing to do.

I can't wait to move to a proper house again and set up a desktop system there

What people don't realize is that it's mostly a fitness thing. Start lifting regularly and your posture will improve naturally.

I've heard of people using a very expensive tablet arm to lay in there bed and basically read at any position they want. Starting to sound tempting even for just every day use around the office.

They are holding it wrong.

nealric said:

What people don't realize is that it's mostly a fitness thing. Start lifting regularly and your posture will improve naturally.

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So, you're telling me to buy a heavy tablet? Can I just tape a brick to one?