Weak hands and blurry vision: Are you getting a 'phone body'?

Your devices are changing your body in ways you might not realise. It's not too late to do something about it.

When we worry about the effects our screentime might have on us, we tend to focus on the mind. But recently, I looked down and noticed a little calloused bump on my pinky finger. It's exactly on the spot where I prop up my phone. It got me thinking: what's my phone doing to the rest of my body?

I called some experts to find out. The answer – maybe you saw this coming – is not encouraging.

The latest science suggests your phone and its digital comrades may be altering the shape of your neck, hurting your vision, affecting your motor skills and reducing your muscle strength. People even worry our tech-driven lives are causing more wrinkles. And some of these physical issues could in turn lead to cognitive decline or other more serious problems.

I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take all that sitting down (especially because all the sitting is part of the problem). Fortunately, if you don't want technology ruining your body, there are a few things you can do about it.

Now you see me, now you don't

Rates of myopia (near sightedness) have been skyrocketing for decades.
If you consider what's changed, it's easy to blame technology.

That may be true, but not in the way you might think, according to Donald Mutti, a professor of optometry at Ohio State University in the US.

"We did an over 20-year longitudinal study of kids' eye development, looking at risk factors for the onset and progression of myopia," Mutti says. A key question was whether there's a connection between myopia and "close work", tasks that keep you focused on something close to your face like a phone. "The answer was 'not really'," he says.

But the study uncovered something else: time spent outdoors seems to have a protective effect. "The idea is the bright light of the outside stimulates a release of dopamine from the retina," Mutti says, and it appears that could affect the way your eyes develop.

Technology is part of a global shift towards more of our time spent indoors. In that sense, Mutti believes, your devices may have an indirect negative effect on your eyes.

The solution here is a simple one, says Mutti – you just need to spend more time outside. It's not just good for your eyes, it can also help you sleep better. Just make sure to wear sunscreen and sunglasses to avoid the harmful effects of sunshine. (Find out if you are applying sunscreen correctly in this article by my colleague Jessica Bradley.)

What's your head doing right now?

If you're reading this on a phone, chances are you're tilting your head to look down at it.

This "forward head posture" can put up to 60lbs (27kg) of pressure on your........

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