Friday, September 15, 2006
Page 15
AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)
Technology Has Us by the Thumbs
By J’AMY PACHECO
Now I’ve seen it all.
I just read an article about a new malady affecting America’s workers. Titled, “Blackberry Thumb,” the condition is caused by use — or, more likely, overuse — of the popular electronic device and causes pain and numbness in the thumbs and hand joints.
In the unlikely event you’ve never seen a Blackberry, it’s sort of like a hand-held computer that doubles as a phone. I first heard of the device when a well-educated relative sent me an a-mail that was filled with typos and misspellings.
“Sorryy for th mistakes i’m on my blackberry,” it read. I didn’t know why she would be “on” a blackberry, or how something so small and squishy could cause so many typos, but I thought it best not to ask.
I saw an electronic Blackberry several months later when the police officer husband of a friend of mine used one to check the weather at Disneyland. Rain was expected, so he kept checking for minute-by-minute updates. To my great surprise, it rained within about five minutes of the time his Blackberry said it would.
This guy now has a dash-mounted holder for his Blackberry. I’m continually amazed at the way his Blackberry shouts out directions when we’re all on the road together. No doubt about it, he’s hooked on his Blackberry.
And that, according to the article I read, is not necessarily a good thing. Apparently, people who get hooked on their Blackberries use them not only for business, but for personal and after-hours work communication – non-stop, in other words, leading to injury.
It reminds me of another injury, one that skyrocketed to fame in the 1990s — Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. As soon as it became popular, it seemed like everybody I know got it. Office workers were dropping like flies at their keyboards as their overworked hands and wrists gave out on them.
And now, the Blackberry has us by the thumbs.
I can’t help wondering if these maladies are caused less by what we do at work, and more by our inability to stop doing it when we leave the office.
Think about things we do with our hands that we didn’t do 50 years ago. Video games, television remotes, home computers — they all cause us to use our hands in a way that people never did until the modern age.
The cave men and pioneers didn’t have these problems. I’ve never read anything about “Club Arm” or “Plow Calves.” I doubt our founding fathers got Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Blackberry Thumb from milking cows, planting crops or even picking blackberries.
Health care has vastly improved since the old days, but it takes a lot less to bring us down. Are we weaker than our forefathers? Are we becoming little more than a wussy blip on mankind’s radar screen?
Our life expectancy has increased substantially since the days of the pioneers in part because of improved technology.
I can’t help wondering if that same technology will be our undoing. Earphones and iPods are supposed to harm our hearing, while computer screens are said to have an adverse effect on our eyesight. And as for cell phones — if the brain cancer doesn’t get the frequent user, death-by-traffic probably will.
What are we doing to ourselves?
Most of us know if we stay in the bath too long, we’ll get pickled fingers and toes. So we get out. If we stay in the sun too long, we’ll get burned. So we cover up, apply sunscreen, or get out of the rays.
When it comes to technology, we don’t know when to save ourselves.
As far as staying in touch electronically, I’m as guilty as the next guy. I carry a cell phone with a camera built in, and use it a lot. I check e-mail as soon as I get up, before I go to bed and most days, many times in between.
But I’m getting better. I stopped “live chatting” with online friends years ago, and now only communicate through e-mail or bulletin boards. I no longer use my cell phone for non-essential calls, and if my family is with me, I turn off the ringer. I think my phone even has an option for Internet access but as far as I’m concerned, the home computer is good enough.
As much as I’d like to have an electronic tour guide to tell me how to get where I’m going and give me weather updates, I think I’ll give my thumbs a break and skip the Blackberry.
Unless it’s small and squishy, that is…
Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company