Technology Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Sarah Burgess

Texting, answering emails, online shopping or simply watching endless episodes of “Friends” on Netflix; sure, we’ve heard habits like these can be bad for your eyes and attention span, but one of the most recent ailments attributed to these behaviors might surprise you.

So, what is it? Do me a favor – if you’re a millennial and regularly do the things I mentioned above, look at yourself in the mirror. If you’re like me, you may have noticed one or two horizontal lines on your neck. These could be caused by a new phenomenon called tech neck.

Now, don’t think you’re getting off the hook with just a couple lines on your neck! A new study conducted by Surgical Technology International found that tech neck can add up to 50 pounds of pressure on your spine, resulting in poor posture and other side effects.

Flicker credit: U.S. Department
of Education

Think this sounds like a bunch of malarkey? I can personally attest to the dangers of tech neck. After about a year of owning my first cell phone (in the good ol’ days of the Motorola Razr), I started having frequent, unexplained pain in my wrists. After seeing a few doctors and specialists, they concluded that I had developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and the best option to correct it was surgery. Lucky for me, I was extremely squeamish and terrified of getting surgery on my wrists. That’s right, I said “lucky.”

After unwillingly accompanying my father to his chiropractor appointment and discussing why I was wearing braces on my wrists with the doctor, we decided it couldn’t hurt for him to have a look at my spine. Turns out, being so wrapped up in texting all the time had caught up with me. My frequent texting and computer usage caused the upper portion of my spine to straighten in an unnatural manner, which pinched a nerve that shot pain down to my wrists. Crazy, right?

Now, I know it’s virtually impossible to avoid the devices that cause tech neck, but there are a few tips that can help prevent discomfort, bad posture and those unsightly lines.

• Keep your ears parallel with your shoulders.
• Stop resting your chin on your hands.
• Prop up your computer with a couple of books so your screen is eye-level.
• If you use a laptop, get a laptop stand, wireless keyboard and mouse so you’re not forced to look down so much.

Have any other tips to help prevent tech neck? Let us know in the comments below!

How to not screw yourself over three weeks before the end of the semester

Kim Morrison

Recently one of my teammates had a bit of computer problems which reminded me about the worst and most stressful 24 hours I ever experienced at the end of my last semester of school this past spring. Why, you might ask? Well, for several reasons: I failed to plan, my computer secretly hated me (or so I thought) and because you can always count on Murphy’s Law to catch you just at the right/wrong time. Let me explain.

I woke up early to a beautiful Saturday, thanks to the baying of my two Beagles, and started my day like normal -- breakfast with my roommate, play time with my dogs and once the cobwebs in my brain dissipated, I decided it was time to get to work.

Only it wasn’t.

I opened my Macbook Pro, hit the power button and started to hear a very loud clacking noise. I thought, “Well, that’s not good…” and waited for it to boot up.

Only it didn’t.

Once the screen lit up, it didn’t go to the normal log in screen. Instead, a screen opened up with a folder with a question mark on it. Again, I thought, “Ummmm, that can’t be good either…” So I shut it down and rebooted, again and again, and yet again, to the same result.

After much research via my iPhone, several phone calls, trips to the Apple Store and Macadvantage, and enough tears shed you’d have thought a family member died, I finally had all of my information off of my laptop while it went away to be diagnosed.

So what should I have done differently to keep something like this from happening?

Backup regularly

Regularly is a very ambiguous term, but that’s because it depends on how often you’re creating, downloading or altering files on your hard drive. If you primarily use your machine for Internet surfing, then once a week may be good for you. For someone like me who spends the day creating, downloading and altering files all day, daily backups are good, while keeping your external drive connected always so it backs up as you go.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Yes, make sure you have a backup for your backup. I have all of my work files backed up to my hard drive (thankfully!) as well as our server at work, although that backup isn’t completely current (my last back up there was at the beginning of the week). My personal files are all on this external hard drive as well, but that’s it. What if this hard drive failed? Years of pictures, writing, school work -- all gone. There are many cloud options out there that allow you to back up your valuable information via the Internet. Check out this article from NetworkWorld, which not only lists 12 free cloud storage options, but also pricing information for larger storage options.

Know your local IT options

Of course owning a Mac, whenever I have a problem, my first thought is “To the Apple Store!” Obviously from this experience, they do have limitations; they don’t do anything related to information retrieval. Actually, I was told in my case, they couldn’t even touch the hard drive other than for replacement. So the mighty Apple does have its limitations. Had I known that and known the abilities of the other Apple product service providers in the area, I could have gotten to Macadvantage much earlier, and possibly gotten to the root of my problem much quicker. It pays to know where to go.

Take a chill pill

Despite the frequency of technological problems in our day-to-day lives, methods for correcting and repairing those problems are keeping up at a good pace. It may hurt your wallet, it may take some time, but most likely, your computer problem can be resolved in a way that benefits you. Information can be recovered, software fixed and hardware replaced. Don’t have an aneurysm; just breathe and contact your local computer tech to find out what your options are.

So, how did my situation end? Rather anti-climatically. After spending three days worried and stressed to the max, my computer was OK. Yep, you read that right. It didn’t clack for them, rebooted perfectly 300 times in a row and the most they could find were a couple of software glitches. Thankfully, that’s it. So my computer may have made a liar out of me and I may have lost five years off my life, but I did learn a valuable lesson, albeit the hard way -- always be prepared, especially when your computer’s concerned.

The Disconnect Created by Technology

Crystal Jackson

If you gave someone a call a few decades ago and he or she was away from the telephone, you’d have to wait and call back. Then came caller ID and voicemail, so the days of waiting by the phone and guessing who was calling disappeared. Those were simple days of long ago. Now, if I want to get in touch with clients, I have to ask if they would like a phone call on their cell, office or home number. But their options don’t stop there! They can opt to be reached by text message, email, snail mail, a Facebook message, a tweet, or we could always just Skype or “hangout” on Google+! Where and when will the madness end? When it comes to the relationship between you and your clients, is technology making you want to change your relationship status to it’s complicated?

As PR professionals, we have to be in the know on the latest and greatest ways to communicate. We’re paid to do so, but when do we need to ditch our modern gadgets for an old-fashioned face-to-face chat? Well, don’t look at me! Who am I to tell you what to do in your relationship? It’s already “complicated,” and I’d hate for that status of yours to change to single because I misadvised you. However, here’s what I can tell you.

No matter what the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg creates to make communication easier for our progressively lazier society, face time with your clients will always be crucial and important to your relationship. Depending on the client, you may need face-to-face contact weekly, monthly or quarterly to maintain a healthy, beneficial and continuous relationship. It’s not the technology that is causing you two to drift apart; it’s you! When you’re first engaging a client, ask how often they’d like to get together to review the plans you’ve made for them. Ask them their preferred method for communicating, but also set dates and times for you to chat in person over coffee, lunch or a cocktail.

You and your client may have busy schedules, but it is imperative that you make time for each other. The level of trust and confidence needed for a successful PR relationship takes time to cultivate and just like any other bond, you must spend time together. This ensures that you’re both on the same page and know exactly where the relationship is headed – whether that is to the CNN newsroom or to changing your status to “in a relationship.”