It’s well known that sitting at a computer all day is bad for you, but what about texting on your phone? New research suggests that texting has a similarly poor effect on posture when you’re walking, causing discomfort and adding the potential for spinal damage.
Researchers at the University of Queensland tested the effect on mobile phone use on gait, having 26 healthy people walk in a straight line in front of 8 cameras while wearing reflective markers. Each person walked normally, texted, and read text messages.
The researchers found that while their subjects read or wrote texts, they placed their feet less accurately, held their head in a more flexed position and walked more slowly. When texting, subjects also deviated from the straight line and moved their head more, impacting their balance.
They also noted that pedestrians were at risk while reading or texting, particularly while navigating obstacles or crossing the road, so it makes sense to at least stop using your phone at these points.
Texting and driving is another danger, although for reasons of inattention behind the wheel rather than posture. We’ve seen laws across the world against using phones while driving, but in the US at least 21% of car crashes involved mobile phones – and that number seems only set to increase as mobile phones become an increasingly ubiquitous technology.
An indie developer has produced a weirdly compelling demonstration of these dangers, in a web game called Text and Drive: Friendship Never Dies. You can play it here. The gameplay is somewhat abstract, but there’s a satisfying finale and a score counter; I got 238. Of course, as the developer says on the page, “please don’t actually text and drive.”
Do you text while walking or driving? How do you feel about people that do? Let us know in the comments below or reach out to us on Twitter @mobilefun. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend ahead!