Text Neck

The Scourge of the 21st Century

PUT THE PHONE DOWN!

Text neck is a thing and you better do something about it. NOW!

Text neck is becoming more common and is arguably the scourge of the 21st century. It is a forward thrust of the head, which pulls on the muscles of the neck, rounds the shoulders and forces the chin to jut out and down.

Text neck is creating problems in the young and old alike, with the ubiquitous and OVER-use of cell phones. All we seem to do is look down; bad for how we relate to the world, bad for how we relate to each other, and bad for our posture and overall health.

Don’t believe me? My teenager sure doesn’t. She thinks my nagging is because I want her to get off her phone. Well DUH! Yet she tells me how her shoulders ache, her neck is tight, her jaw is clenched, and sometimes she has a headache.

This is not a PSA for trashing cell phones. I am not harkening back to the good ole days of yadda yadda yadda. We ALL could put down our cell phones and look at each other more, but that’s not going to happen. I admit I catch myself saying, “Oh just let me look this up…” more than absolutely necessary. However, there ARE things we can do.

Support your head while using a device. Rest your head against a pillow, support the arms with pillows, avoid sitting at a table hunched over. Lift the device above the nose to help lift your gaze and keep the neck neutral.

Take breaks and stretch your neck left and right. Turn your head left and right. Roll your shoulders one at a time backwards to relieve stress and strain. Pull your chin in toward your throat, and make the top of your spine lift up toward the ceiling, which also neutralizes overworked neck muscles.

I lied: PUT THE PHONE DOWN! Come ON, people! Monitor your cell phone use; there are a ton of apps out there to help track hours spent. Look up and see what the real world is offering - we need to live bigger and out of the celluloid screen.