Hunchback Habitants

Text Neck

Digital Eye Strain

Cell Phone Elbow

Overused Fingers

Poor Sleep

Sedentary Posture

Hand and Wrist Strain

FOMO…

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I must thank the AI Overview function on Google for providing me with most of the above. And I thank Vocal for giving us this particular Challenge, and for allowing me to look carefully at the world around me.

And I did read the Challenge very carefully. It states, “write about one technology, tool, or habit in your everyday life that already feels like science-fiction.” And then it continues: “…and what it’s quietly changing.”

That is a two-parter that provides me with a particular challenge. What I have chosen to write about is the “habit in your everyday life” instead of new phone, video game, app, or any kind of hardware soon to be too popular to be ignored. I want to look at us, the user, and what we have become as we use our smartphones more and more often and isolate ourselves to each other as we – in a painful sense of irony – look more closely at a world that is barely there.

We have become hunchbacks.

I am not saying that we are all fated to live our lives like Quasimodo pining over a digital Esmerelda (please don’t forget that he was injured before he was born and had no choice but to be an outcast in Victor Hugo's most famous story). We are all the product of the choices we make. Technology only makes it clear how many choices that we now face.

But I take the bus. I ride the metro. I look at the people around me.

And I cannot ignore what we have become.

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Text Neck is what I need to focus on if I have to explain what I mean to those of you too innocent or isolated to understand this new change. The online description runs as follows:

“Looking down at a screen places heavy pressure on the cervical spine, leading to chronic neck pain, shoulder strain, and headaches.”

Google AI Overview

Recognize any of these symptoms? Ever wonder why you feel tired after work and have to take extra shots of ibuprofen or aspirin at the end of the day? I admit that I am not suffering a great deal from any of these symptoms because most of my commute involves listening to podcasts or music on my trips to and from work. You really don’t have to look at a screen while experts describe international politics, history, novels, or any of the other subjects I love (I’ll provide a list for those who ask). You can get the message and take a glance at all of those other addicts around you. This is the reason why this particular challenge sparked me. I was already noticing the lack of eye contact, the zombie-like stare (my theory is that “The Walking Dead” benefited from the rise of the smartphone as a tool, but I’ll explore that at another time). I was clever enough to see that the number of random conversations I had in the past were greatly reduced over the last few decades (my last conversation was with a young woman who began talking to me because of the book I was reading; worth an article?). I was not reaching out to anyone else as I listened, and I could not spend time imagining that I was somehow any better than the commuters around me. I was in it as much as anyone else.

But let’s talk about that “quiet change”.

From the National Library of Medicine (July 19, 2023):

“Smartphone usage time was significantly associated with body image distortion and inappropriate weight control behavior in total group and female adolescents… The association between inappropriate weight control behavior and smartphone usage time is significant even in male adolescent if they use a smartphone more than 5 hours a day. The association between inappropriate weight control and smartphone usage time is also significant when they are not obese.”

NLM

We are still in the middle of what people love to call an “obesity epidemic,” and the usual suspects are a lack of exercise, a lack of interest in learning how to exercise, a lack of interest in mixing with other people, a love of video games, junk food, and our “sedentary posture.” I have long said that television can be addictive, as can your Playstation, radio and collection of movies. The problem now is that we carry all of them with us everywhere we go. There is no third space where you can get away from them all. And young people are the ones who are really paying the price.

I chose that page from the NLM because of their particular variables. Young people are always a step ahead when it comes to new technology. I have very fond memories of showing adults how to hook up cables on television sets so that video games could be played, or programming VCRs to record television programs that were not available for download. And yes, young people were the ones who climbed on board when cellphones got smart…and the rest of us got so dumb.

Yes, I said “dumb”. I was dumb enough to think that it was wise to get rid of my old Nokia and hop over to a Samsung. It has helped me with work and communicating with my family; it has also drained my time with…FOMO (no explanation necessary here, I think). I grew up without a computer. I taught myself how to write poems and stories, play the guitar, run like a (semi-) pro, and lead a real life. I should have known better. I have had enough experience to not fall for the trap of a new toy.

How silly of me.

And how silly of us not to warn the next generation of what this can lead to.

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From the NLM page (Conclusions):

“Using a smartphone and social media too much is associated with body image distortion and inappropriate weight control behavior in adolescents. It is necessary to reduce excessive smartphone use and educate media literacy for healthy body awareness.”

NLM

So, it is not just physical; it is an emotional and psychological change that has poisoned the very idea of who we are. But it is not all negative. More and more young people understand that there is a serious problem that has a solution…if we are all prepared to step back and decide that we want things to change.

And I think we do want to get back to what once was.

I think we want to inhabit a better world.

Now, excuse me. There's a page I really have to visit...

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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