Technology and mankind

Texting on a mobile phone forces the body into a hunched position which can lead to poor posture and
balance and make walking around dangerous, academics say
By Sarah Knapton,
Science Correspondent
7.00AM GMT Jan 23 2014

It has taken millions of years of evolution for humans to walk upright but it appears texting
could be undoing our natural posture. Hunching over to type or read a text message causes people to hunch,
swerve, slow down and lose their balance, a study suggests. Researchers asked 26 volunteers to walk at a
comfortable pace without a phone then monitored them as they read or text or typed a message.
A computer which tracked the body’s movements revealed that texting altered the posture and changed the
way people walked. Hunched over with the heads down, texters were less able to walk in a straight line and
more likely to topple off balance. Dr Siobhan Schabrun from the University of Queensland said: “Texting,
and to a lesser extent reading, on your mobile phone affects your ability to walk and balance. This may
impact the safety of people who text and walk at the same time.”
Most people adopt a forward-and-down head position while they text. Holding your head in such a posture
can add up to 30 pounds of extra weight to the upper vertebrae which can pull the spine out of alignment.
Physiotherapists have previously dubbed the pain experienced from hunching over a mobile phone as ‘text
neck’ which can put strain on the muscles in the neck and shoulders. A previous study by San Francisco
State University discovered that 83 percent of subjects reported some hand and neck pain during texting —
but also displayed other signs of tension, like holding their breath and increased heart rates.

General comprehension
1 What effect is texting having on our posture?
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2 Which four verbs does the author use to describe what may happen when people are hunching over to type
or read a text message?
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3 How did researchers discover the extent of the problem?
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4 Describe the possible dangers of texting while walking, in your own words.
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5 What is the effect of bending the head while texting?

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6 What is ‘text neck’?

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7 What other physical symptoms have been reported by people when texting?
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8 Do you text while walking? What side effects have you noticed?
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Text handling
1 Identify the subjects of these sentences.
a) Hunching over to type or read a text message causes people to hunch, swerve, slow down and
lose their balance, a study suggests.
b) A computer which tracked the body’s movements revealed that texting altered the posture and
changed the way people walked.
c) Hunched over with the heads down, texters were less able to walk in a straight line and more
likely to topple off balance.
d) A previous study by San Francisco State University discovered that 83 percent of subjects
reported some hand and neck pain during texting.
2 Match the vocabulary to the nearest meaning according to the way the words are used in the text.

I. to hunch A. give something or someone a particular name

II. to swerve B. how we stand, sit, etc.
III. posture C. process of gradual change over many generations
IV. evolution D. raise shoulders, lower head and lean forward
V. undoing E. downfall / failure
VI. to topple F. suddenly change direction
VII. alignment G. tumble / become unstable
VIII. to dub H. correct position