Technology and health

I came across an article in a tech magazine from The Straits Times called Digital Life. It talks about how overusing of digital tools or misusing them can be harmful to us.

As we all know, music players like iPod are quite common among people nowadays especially teenagers. Some people tend to blast their music especially in buses or train to drown out background noise. Sometimes I do hear the music clearly, coming out from the person’s earpiece, even when he is few feet away. This is bad as long exposure to loud sounds will cause hearing loss. And these people who blast their music are normally not aware of this. So as time goes by, their hearing will deteriorate.

The article also talks about repetitive stress injury (RSI). This injury is where poor posture or repetitive motions cause an injury to muscles, tendons, or nerves. For example, gamers who hold a controller for long hours, pressing the same buttons repetitive will risk affecting their fingers, hands or wrists. Other examples include slouching in a chair while using the computer will put extra strain on the back. Even SMSing for a long time will injure the person’s fingers.

Technology is meant to improve human condition, but misusing or overusing them will be harmful to us. But many people are not aware of this. Thus, technology ended up harming them instead.

Technological expert
Loke Jia Wei

Labels: health, Technology

10:42 PM