Caution: your smartphone may be a health hazard

As if modern-day living doesn't present ample hazards to human health as it is, it looks increasingly like the rapid spread of smart technology is responsible for its own host of perilous penalties.

Genetically modified foods, asbestos, carcinogens, fungicides, bisphenol A, cosmic rays - and the latest additions - Apple, Samsung, BlackBerry, HTC, Huawei, Sony. The most recent culprits wreaking havoc on our bodies are none other than our beloved smartphones and tablets.

From text neck, to BlackBerry thumb and computer vision syndrome - the connected population's penchant for incessant connectivity is proving more health hammering than I bet most could have ever predicted.

Sure, it might be somewhat of an exaggeration to label your iPhone as Hazmat, and there are worse names you could be called than a screen-checker (trust me) - but the growing list of ailments brought about by excessive use of technology must present a cause for concern, at least.

The latest tech-related infirmity, emerging from a survey by UK health company, Simplyhealth, is termed "iPosture" - a neologism that alludes to the hunchbacked deportment assumed by people texting, browsing, e-mailing or playing games on their smartphone or tablet.

According to the healthcare provider, 84% of the 18- to 24-year-olds surveyed admitted they have had back pain in the past year.

While most people experience backache in their lower back, the Daily Mail cites back specialist Dr Brian Hammond as saying young adults are more prone to feel it in the upper back and neck. He attributes this to being, in all likelihood, due to crouching over computers and handheld devices.

Hammond says those of the younger generation - widely labelled Generation Y - are "far more likely" to be found hunching over a device, and says they would do well to take better heed of their posture.

Another affliction doctors warned of, back in 2011, is something called "text neck". As the term suggests, this tech-ache stems from the long periods of time people spend rubbernecking at their cellphones.

The growing list of ailments brought about by excessive use of technology must present a cause for concern.

Long gone are the days people used their phones for making calls, able to make eye contact when walking down the street. Today, the vast majority of cellphone users spend most their time with their heads bowed, surfing the mobile Internet or sending those series of all-important texts.

And this makes the modern-day malady far more likely. Medical professionals reckon the unusual posture of constantly holding the cranium forward makes the head feel up to four times heavier.

Now this one, I thought, takes silly to a whole new level. But maybe not. "BlackBerry thumb", as it has been called, is a kind of repetitive strain injury characterised by pain in the wrist and thumbs - caused, of course, by the obsessive tapping of keypads many cellphone users are guilty of.

At the end of last year - on the birthday of the text - the Bloomberg Big Number estimated about eight trillion text messages are sent a year. I shudder to think what that already mammoth number has risen to today, 10 months down the line.

British Chiropractic Association associate Tim Hutchful is quoted by the Daily Mail as saying one of his patients developed inflamed tendons in her thumb from using her smartphone, and was "unable to use her hands for weeks", because of the pain this caused. Try get away with that excuse for sick leave.

There are even exercise tips for thumb injuries caused by texting. These range from the absurd advice of tapping each thumb five times on each hand while singing a song - to the more rational suggestion of actually using your mouth to communicate with people and giving your thumbs a rest.

And then there is computer vision syndrome. Less embarrassing-sounding and relatively older than the others, this one has seen a transition with the advent of smartphones.

Recently, 33% of US-based VSP eye doctors reported that a third or more of their patients suffer from vision problems related to the use of digital devices. The most common eye ailments, they say, include eye strain (82%), dry or irritated eyes (74%), fatigue (70%) and headaches (61%).

Stating the obvious, perhaps, doctors say constant ogling of small tablet (and even smaller smartphone) screens - as opposed to those of the "olden day" PC - is exacerbating the strain we put on our eyes.

There have also been mentions made of "iPod ear" and "laptop knee" - and the list of tech-related conditions will probably grow as technology continues to. Our already-enfeebled bodies just can't take it. Rest assured - whatever the environment and bad horror movie remakes don't already take out of us - our gadgets will.

And, while it may appear to be bordering on ridiculous to suggest we pay attention to how we use our devices in the same way we would to what we eat, perhaps we would do well to spare a thought for potential tech-aches every now and then. Because one day, when we are older - and blind migraine-suffering hunchbacks with paralysed thumbs - we'll wish we had.