Doctors have taken to the internet, addressing a new trend of photos that people are taking of their "pinky indentations" after hours of phone usage.
With technology having become an essential part of everyone's day to day life, business or pleasure, oftentimes its effects on one's health is also brought up. Parents have been complaining about the adverse effects of television, mobile phones, and video games on their children for what feels like centuries. Stories about Samsung devices blowing off ears and the like plague News Feeds relentlessly, and let's not even begin broaching the subject of technology and its effects on mental health. All of these arguments have their own merits, especially the ones surrounding mental health disturbance, but it should ultimately be recognized that technology is much like any other tool. Excessive and dangerous usage is defined by an individual's ability to moderate their exposure.
A recent slew of selfies and photos have taken over the likes of Twitter and Instagram. In them, users are showing off indentations on their pinky fingers, claiming that years worth of using smartphones has permanently deformed them. Even as our audience is reading this article, I'm sure that many must have stopped to notice that their pinky's placement under the mobile's charging port is leading to pressure being exerted there. And that's what leads to the pinky indentations. But how serious is this condition really? Doctors think not that much.
This point is very excellently illustrated by Dr. Leon Benson. He's a practitioner at the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute. In an interview with Insider, Dr. Benson states that the exerted pressure isn't enough to disrupt or stop blood from flowing into one's pinky finger, and thus causes no particular long-lasting effects. Indentations, he further embellished, are simply there due to the flexible nature of the subcutaneous fat that underlines our skin. Finally, Dr. Benson makes a very effective point by mentioning that if users are particularly worried about indentations lasting longer than they think appropriate, the most damaging effect may not be to their finger, but to their mental health from constantly being plugged in.
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With technology having become an essential part of everyone's day to day life, business or pleasure, oftentimes its effects on one's health is also brought up. Parents have been complaining about the adverse effects of television, mobile phones, and video games on their children for what feels like centuries. Stories about Samsung devices blowing off ears and the like plague News Feeds relentlessly, and let's not even begin broaching the subject of technology and its effects on mental health. All of these arguments have their own merits, especially the ones surrounding mental health disturbance, but it should ultimately be recognized that technology is much like any other tool. Excessive and dangerous usage is defined by an individual's ability to moderate their exposure.
A recent slew of selfies and photos have taken over the likes of Twitter and Instagram. In them, users are showing off indentations on their pinky fingers, claiming that years worth of using smartphones has permanently deformed them. Even as our audience is reading this article, I'm sure that many must have stopped to notice that their pinky's placement under the mobile's charging port is leading to pressure being exerted there. And that's what leads to the pinky indentations. But how serious is this condition really? Doctors think not that much.
This point is very excellently illustrated by Dr. Leon Benson. He's a practitioner at the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute. In an interview with Insider, Dr. Benson states that the exerted pressure isn't enough to disrupt or stop blood from flowing into one's pinky finger, and thus causes no particular long-lasting effects. Indentations, he further embellished, are simply there due to the flexible nature of the subcutaneous fat that underlines our skin. Finally, Dr. Benson makes a very effective point by mentioning that if users are particularly worried about indentations lasting longer than they think appropriate, the most damaging effect may not be to their finger, but to their mental health from constantly being plugged in.
Read next: Here are the Text Abbreviations That Get Searched Most Often