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Smartphones have become a part of everyone’s life. You probably keep everything in your device, from your grocery list to information about your finances.
People live a good chunk of their lives on the phone way or another. While the smartphone has done a lot of good for folks, it’s also doing some bad. Everyone knows the obvious ones like distracting you while driving, but they can also damage your posture and ruin your mood.
All it takes is one outing to see how the smartphone is affecting people’s posture. If you go out, you’ll see everyone hunched over looking at their phones. Some people are calling the phenomenon the iHunch or the iPosture. Whatever it’s called, it’s happening and should be addressed.
You should know that your head weighs a lot. This isn’t something people think about, but the average head could weigh about 10 to 12 pounds. That’s a lot of weight, but the good thing is your posture helps you carry that weight without hurting you.
The problem is the smartphone is changing how you sit or stand. As people tilt their heads down, they are also bending their necks about 60 degrees. Now, the weight on your neck is around 60 pounds.
Humps are developing at a younger age, sometimes in teenagers if they use their smartphones frequently throughout the day. Strangely enough, this type of hunch has always been associated with depressed folks. A depressed person is more likely to slouch and let the shoulders collapse. After some time, this posture forces the body to create a hunch similar to the iHunch.
It’s clear that a person’s posture can show you their state of mind, but it can also do the exact opposite. If you slouch and do all the other things you might do when depressed, you might make yourself feel bad, even if you weren’t feeling like that. It’s kind of strange to hear that your posture can change your mood, but it can. In addition to that, if you use your phone at night, you might not get enough sleep. This is a problem because sleep helps you control your mood more effectively. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, then your mood suffers.
Slouching doesn’t just affect your mood. It can also make you less likely to remember something. For some reason, sitting or standing upright makes it easier to remember things or learn effectively. The extra stress you put on your body may distract the mind since it is uncomfortable, and this makes it harder to stay focused, even if you don’t notice a difference.
Other studies have noticed that the slouchy posture makes people feel less assertive. That’s not a good thing because assertiveness is what you need in this life to get ahead and feel confident about yourself. It’s hard to believe that a simple smartphone could be robbing you of your confidence. In fact, if you don’t do anything to reverse this, you could become a submissive person. That’s not a good thing for anyone.
What can you do?
There’s no doubt that something has to be done. Learning this information isn’t going to stop you from using your smartphone.
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The phone does offer some benefits, and there are some things you could do to decrease this problem. You want to become aware of your posture at all times. If you have to be on your phone, maybe you can put it at eye level so that you don’t have to hunch.
You can stop using your phone so often, or put the device on a stand when you’re going to watch videos so that you stop slouching.
Hopefully, this information makes it easier to fight the negative effects of iPosture.
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