Are you looking for a New Year's resolution? Limiting your phone use could save you a trip to the hospital.
A new Rutgers study came out that shows nearly 4,000 Americans are injured each year from cell phone use. The study was specifically focusing on head and neck injuries, and what they found was that from a national data base, the number of head and neck injuries related to cell phone use has been increasing steadily over 20 years.
Study co-author Boris Paskhover says "so many of these injuries happen because people are distracted." More and more users get into accidents trying to multi-task with their phones. It can lead to anything from simply tripping while walking, to getting into serious car accidents from checking tweets.
I've noticed myself that my posture has been warping forward a bit, and days when I'm staring at my phone more often than others give my a sore neck... I've even walked into a wall while checking my email. Apps are now getting programmed to be more addicting, and sometimes we don't even notice when we're stuck in the loop. Maybe 2020 can be a fresh start to limit phone time. I'll definitely be trying it out!
The full study can be found here.