Posted on 10/17/2005 12:35:36 PM PDT by bkwells
When technology attacks
From 'BlackBerry thumb' to computer-vision syndrome, today's gadgets produce a host of painful side effects
By Jonathan Sidener STAFF WRITER
October 17, 2005
Grandma never knew how good she had it.
Her telephone was attached to the wall. She never had to worry about dropping it in the toilet. Growing up stitching needlepoint, she didn't suffer from stress injuries inflicted by a video-game controller.
She kept her photos in a shoe box. There was no chance of the Anna Kournikova virus wiping out her record of little Billy's first birthday party.
She didn't have a "crackberry," as the beloved BlackBerry personal digital assistants are known among information addicts, so she never obsessed over e-mail or logged in hourly during a vacation at the beach. She settled for a couple of handwritten postcards to friends and family.
There was never any marital friction with Grandpa over incessant late-night sessions at the computer playing games online. And her eyes never grew bleary from computer-vision syndrome.
Clearly, today's games, phones and other gadgets connect, organize and entertain us. But each seems to have its drawback, digital wrinkles in modern life that Grandma never had to deal with. When you put them all together, they can add up to one big, high-tech headache.
Our eyes ache from staring at motionless computer monitors for countless hours. Our hearts ache when the hardware falters and we lose photos, music libraries or that e-mail from an important client. And increasingly, our thumbs hurt.
The opposable digit that made possible most of human culture is taking a beating in the digital revolution:
Nintendo thumb.
BlackBerry thumb.
Text-messaging thumb.
Increasingly, doctors are treating patients who have overused their thumbs blasting villains in video games or pressing tiny keys on cell phones and BlackBerrys.
"I just treated a patient who was having thumb pain," said Stacey Doyon, vice president of the American Society of Hand Therapists and a certified hand therapist in Portland, Maine.
"We couldn't figure out how she was hurting her thumb, and then I saw her dialing her phone. She's a very busy woman, a multitasker. Instead of holding the phone with one hand and dialing with the other, she held it in her hand and dialed it with her thumb."
In January, Doyon's group put out a consumer advisory about "BlackBerry thumb," saying the devices are causing a growing number of cases of repetitive-stress injury and tendinitis.
Doyon said the group's caution was essentially an early warning that therapists are beginning to see problems, not an announcement of a rampant plague.
"There are people who are overdoing it, not giving their hands time to rest," she said.
For years, parents have reported cases of children experiencing hand pain after playing video games for hours on end. In August, a British health group warned that cases of repetitive-stress injury were turning up in children who spent hours sending text messages from cell-phone keypads.
"Kids heal quickly, and they're generally fine the next day," Doyon said. "But if kids are getting pain from video games and text messaging, I'm concerned that they may be doing micro-damage that will be a problem when they get older."
Like our thumbs, our eyes are getting pummeled these days. The American Optometric Association recognizes computer-vision syndrome as a distinct set of woes aggravated by the hours spent starting at computer monitors.
Up to 75 percent of computer workers complain of vision problems, according to the association.
The muscles surrounding the eyes work hard to constantly focus on the nearby computer monitor. They also repeat countless, rapid movements reading character after character of text, line after line.
Those repetitive movements lead to stress injuries in the ocular muscles similar to keyboard stress injuries that have become common in recent years, according to the optometric association.
Encinitas optometrist Jeffrey Anshel, author of "Visual Ergonomics in the Workplace," said computer-vision syndrome is the leading reason for visits to his office.
"Pretty much anyone who uses a computer has, or will have, problems," Anshel said. "Computers are not the only source of near-vision problems, but they have become so common that they are the leading source."
Technologies that succeed in the marketplace often are lauded for creating a compelling consumer experience. For some, it's a slippery slope between compelling and obsessive. Children won't leave the house without portable game players. Adults act the same way with BlackBerrys or smart phones. Others play online games instead of sleeping.
Mental-health professionals debate whether "addiction" is the proper term, but there are people who experience a type of withdrawal when disconnected from the Internet, e-mail or video games. In video-game-crazed South Korea, at least two people have died after sleepless, marathon gaming sessions. The country's mental-health professionals report that the number of sessions treating obsessive game playing quadrupled last year.
In addition to headaches, technology can be the source of heartaches. As consumers have embraced digital music and photography, tough lessons have been learned about the importance of backing up digital data. Photo and music collections and other valuable files have been lost to hard-drive crashes or to attacks by computer viruses.
Sometimes it's the gadget, not the files, that gets lost.
In a Harris Poll survey in March, 28 percent of the respondents said that they, or someone they knew, had dropped a cell phone in a toilet.
The survey found that 60 percent of digital-camera owners had lost photo files. The study was commissioned by PicturesMatter.com, a Web site promoting independent photo printers.
On a case-by-case basis, technology's glitches may seem like minor, statistically insignificant hassles. Shortly after the warnings about BlackBerry thumb, for example, Internet discussion boards filled with humorous comments from the gadget's fans, saying their thumbs were just fine.
The long-term, cumulative effect of all the minor hassles isn't yet known.
"One of the things you have to look at is how much we are forced to use technology," said Steve Jones, head of the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a writer and researcher on technology and culture.
"It is very hard for professionals not to use a computer," Jones said. "And you might put cell phones on that list. They are so pervasive. It's a risk of modern life.
"Ultimately, all of these things may not amount to anything, but it is too soon to tell."
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Jonathan Sidener: (619) 293-1239; jonathan.sidener@uniontrib.com
Pseudo Tech Ping.
I am so sick a tired of the newer generations thinking they have it soooooo tough.
Nothing like profitable new 'syndromes' and 'addictions' to bring out the personal injury lawyers and 'expert witnesses'.
Quit your whining and accept that your particular aches and pains are not always someone else's fault.
In other words, computer monitors are forcing part our comfortably post-literate society back into the unhealthy habit of READING.
I am sure Grandma would have preferred to deal with sore crackberry thumbs instead of worrying about tuberculosis, polio, scarlet fever, diptheria, smallpox...
I'm a Blackberry user and my thumbs are in great shape. Breaking the chain of the coporate office is worth to me a sore thumb or more.
Also, I don't look at it like an 'addiction', but rather a means to be much more responsive to my customers. Blackberry has changed my work routine for the better more than anything since the personal computer. Not sitting in rush hour traffic alone is worth more to me than any 'expansion' of my work day.
I can relate to that. :-)
Good! :-)
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