Are Cell Phones Mutating the Shape of Our Bones?

Are Cell Phones Mutating the Shape of Our Bones?

what if cellphones were so powerful that they could mutate the shape of

our bones ! this is a surprising new topic that's recently been popping up all

over the media it stems from a scientific report that suggests using phones

and tablets can cause serious and long-lasting changes to our bodies and

not in a way that you might think. In the past few years a study has been

carried out by David Shahar and Mark Sayers who specialized in

biomechanics at Australia's University of the Sunshine Coast biomechanics

looks at how mechanical laws apply to living organisms from how humans

run to how insects beat their wings. Shahar and sayers study also involves

osteo biography this is used to work out what someone's life was like from

their bones. It's been known for some time that skeletons adapt to a

person's lifesty le every set of bones tells a story for example, some

unusually large skeletons were found on the Pacific island of Tinian in 1924

stone structures in the vicinity of the skeletons explained the substantial

nature of the islands bones by working with heavy stones. They had

naturally developed bigger arms legs and collarbones and over in Australia

Shaw heart and sayers believe that modern tech is shaping young people's

skeletons. So how is it doing this it's all to do with something called an EOP

or external occipital protuberance. Some experts and commentators have

been more colorful and described it as foam ball or a devil like horn, in

reality the EOP is a growth of bone found in the back of the skull it's

connected to the nuchal ligament this is an important ligament that plays

a role in connecting Neck muscles to the skull. The EOP creates an effect a

lot like an anchor at the top of the nuchal ligament now let's go back to

what the researchers were actually doing with the study in the first place by

looking at chiropractors x-rays of people aged between 18 to 86. They

wanted to get an up-to-date insight into how skeletons change because a lot

of these x-rays were investigating things like neck pains there's also an

elements of what consequences these changes may have on our health.

Shahar has sayers noticed that in young people the EOP appeared to be

more widespread from this they hypothesized what young people's posture

while constantly checking their phones and tablets was a major factor.

During screen time the neck instinctively cranks forward the theory is that

by craning forward extra pressure is put on the area where sculpt me

smuzzle to compensate the EOP gets gradually longer growing to around

several milliliters the effect has also referred to as text neck the fundings,

also revealed that it was mostly found in men. In 2016 Shah Harden sayers

reported a bigger Yi Opie and 67% of men compared to 20% of women

based on a test group of 218 people by 2018 they had looked at 1200

people with males appearing to be 5 times more likely to get these large

texts necks but, what is the potential impact on humanity we hear a lot

about the radiation from phones potentially linked to cancer but can

using a mobile device actually create significant health problems in the

body? This new report has opened up the debates on this topic since it's the

first case where experts are explicitly pointing out how tech is affecting our

bodies. Shahar & sayers described the elongated yo PS as a degenerative

process implying things are only gonna get much worse for young people if

they keep using their devices there is also something called text thumb or

thumb arthritis where thumb can develop serious problems similar to the

dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome however, the study of EOPS and referring

to them as horns where spikes has been criticized by others in the press

experts point out that the report is not conclusive and like any scientific

paper it makes assumptions archeologists will tell you that longer skull

bones are nothing new and that there are especially common in males. The

general view according to the studies critics is that there simply isn't

enough hard evidence to back up the claim that you are actually turning

into Hellboy by using your cell phones . So are Shahar and sayers on to

something, or have they simply taken along established facts and fitted

them into their own explanation. Either way there's no denying the dramatic

impact that technology has on our lives the idea that upcoming

generations are changing due to constant interaction with their devices is

really a serious issue that needs to be addressed. Ultimately it will be the

archaeologists of the future that make that call maybe don't even have big

spikes sticking out of the back of their necks in the future

who knows so yeah maybe a little more walk in the park and a little less

Angry Birds!