CHARLOTTE, NC — A growing number of people are complaining about a long list of medical problems linked to using smart phones and tablets. The illnesses are tied to ‘Gadget Sickness’, termed by New York Magazine.
Ring-xiety, Text Neck, Cyber-sickness. Believe it or not, those terms are real illnesses being treated by local doctors.
One of the most common gadget sicknesses is cervicalgia—or neck pain.
“If you remember Jerry Maguire, the human head weighs about 10 pounds, so if you’re texting and you’re not careful and you’re looking down at a computer, your head starts to drop forward,” said Dr. Tony Hyser, a WCCB medical contributor.
Dr. Hyser from Providence Health Center says that leads to straining the neck, which can be the start off more issues.
“If you strain the neck, you can feel referral pain all the way down into the fingertips,” said Hyser.
That can lead to tendinitis – also known as ‘Texting Thumb’ or Nintendoitis.
But Gadget Sickness isn’t just physical. One of the common illnesses is Nomophobia—short for no-mobile-phone phobia.
“You don’t know when you’re going to get a text, you don’t know when you’re going to get an e-mail, so you’re constantly checking and double checking,” said Bilal Ghandour, Ph.D. with Southeast Psych.
Ghandour says the separation anxiety leads to addiction. According to nomophobia experts, the symptoms are most common among women ages 18 to 24. But Bilal says it’s widespread.
“Comes a lot with anxious individuals. People who cannot tolerate not to know. Or they’ve got to check and double check, like on Facebook 10 times an hour,” said Bilal.
Experts say that can lead to paranoia—or Phantom Vibration Syndrome. It’s jokingly called ring-xiety, which is thinking that your phone is vibrating or ringing when it’s not.
Experts say using your smartphone or tablet before bed messes with sleep cycles and causes sleep deprivation.
