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Doctor Warns of the Hidden Danger of Touchscreens
snydeq writes "Dr. Franklin Tessler discusses the hidden stress-related injuries of touchscreen use, and how best to use smartphones, tablets, and touch PCs to avoid them. 'Touchscreen-oriented health hazards are even more insidious because most people aren't even aware that they exist. The potential for injury from using touchscreens will only go up ... as the rise of the touchscreen means both new kinds of health hazards and more usage in risky scenarios,' Tessler writes, providing tips for properly positioning touchscreens and ways to avoid repetitive stress injuries and eyestrain."
you could have your eye out
More hype to sell the same tripe.
Seems to be simply latching onto the current fad toy and trying to saddle it with the same things they have been attributing to computers since the 80's.
There is nothing new in the article, simply attributing the same (largely imaginary) "diseases" to a different activity. But by mentioning touch screens they grab the headlines. Nothing about a touch screen forces you into the same position, viewing distance, or hand movements, in fact a tablet is probably the remedy for such complaints more than the cause.
But they trot out the same stuff they were crying about with desktop computers: Repeated motion injuries, Posture, Eyestrain.
I'm surprised they left off testicular heating.
Really? Touch screens?
This looks like building a case for more insurance fraud if you ask me.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
I'm wearing a wrist brace right now because I held my Nook Color one-handed for too long over the course of a couple of weeks. Obviously I can't say for sure that this was the cause of my pain, but it gets worse when when I hold it in one hand only, and better when I use both hands or support it some other way. I wish I had thought of this before I started using the Nook. Yeah it's not a problem of national concern, and the article uses absurdly alarmist rhetoric, but these are real sources of pain and it's always good to have tips on how to avoid pain.
Apple: You're touching it wrong.
I've already experienced mild RSI in the thumb after somewhat excessive touch screen use. Same as with mouse and keyboard use. I don't see why this would be something to write off. Rather, it is obvious that it would become a problem at some point.
What are you talking about? Good on you for having great health.
Meanwhile plenty of geeks suffer from computer-related health problems. The most common up to now has been carpal tunnel or repetitive stress syndrome.
The advent of touchscreens means people are bending their necks downward for extended periods. For many/most it may not be a problem.
For others, it can result in cervical spondylosis, a debilitating condition of the neck.
The reason for such articles is to encourage people to take preventive measures. One of the best is Workrave, a break reminder program for Win and Lin. Click to install. (Deb/Ub/Mint)
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
pussy
You wouldn't believe the RSI potentials here. Just chiseling a single line of text gives me blisters.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
You want to talk RSI? try playing Street Fighter II on the SNES for 16 hours straight. I had to have thumb splints for months!
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
This is the sort of thing that makes me stare at fighting game players in utter incredulity. How and why would anyone ever put up with such ridiculously tiresome finger movements for so long? It's probably healthier to get into an actual fistfight!
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
Touchscreens are awesome, and they are the future of a lot of human-computer interaction. They're simply not a substitute for a real keyboard, or a properly arranged physical workspace.
Come on.
To piss you off.
Seriously, that's the only reason. It's posted to troll you, personally.
But, your use of, commas, has driven me to, bang my head, against my desk . . .
. . .resulting in CST. I got a gel pad though so I'll be fine in a few months.
Touchscreens are awesome, and they are the future of a lot of human-computer interaction.
No, touchscreens suck ass. They're only good when you're doing very basic operations which don't require much control.
The only device I use on a regular basis which might not totally suck ass with a touchscreen is my e-book reader, and even there I'd much rather press a button to go to the next page than have to make some stupid gesture.
They aren't necessarily tiresome. Some people can play games all day without hurting themselves.
Musicians learn to avoid building up muscle tension, both in the muscles they use, and sympathetic tension in the muscles they aren't using. They learn to keep good posture, keep their wrists relatively straight, to breathe properly and so forth, and these skills get passed down to new musicians.
The same skills apply to video games. But there's no "classical video game technique". People tense up, have terrible posture, and generally do things that will hurt themselves if they keep it up long enough. It's totally natural, and takes training for most people to avoid it.
I'm not proposing any particular solution to this, but I think some basic training might help with the sort of people who injure themselves playing video games. Certainly the ways to avoid RSI are non-obvious, whether you're playing Street Fighter or sitting in an office typing all day.
Musicians learn to avoid building up muscle tension, both in the muscles they use, and sympathetic tension in the muscles they aren't using. They learn to keep good posture, keep their wrists relatively straight, to breathe properly and so forth, and these skills get passed down to new musicians.
Musicians also learn to take breaks, not to play too long at a time, or (as frequently happens) they end up with injuries that are destructive to their musical careers. They cannot play all day without hurting themselves, regardless of how awesome their form, posture, and breathing is.
They're only good when you're doing very basic operations which don't require much control.
Which covers surprisingly many activities (time-wise). You listed one yourself - book reading. Now also think newspapers, and everything else online that's "consume only" - i.e. where you don't rush to post a witty comment as soon as you read it, as is the case on Slashdot.
The perfect device would have both touchscreen and keyboard+mouse/trackpad/trackpoint, and will adjust to whatever controls you're using at the moment. We're already seeing this emerge with Asus Transformer, Lenovo Thinkpad tablet, and other similar devices on hardware side, and Win8 (and, to some extent, Android) on software side.
Um, those aren't musicians. They're noise-makers.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Honestly the biggest danger of touch screens isn't the RSI - it's crashing your car.
Don't ask how I know this.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
I've seen parents give their little kids iphones to keep them busy/distracted, and they will stare at that the phone for hours watching videos just 5-6 inches from their faces. This has got to be bad for their eyesight especially when they are 3 or 4 years old still developing...