How Technology Created the Modern Caveman

You’ve all seen the modern caveman—those creatures wearing a business suit or dress, or just some hoodie and jeans, their necks and shoulders hunched over looking down at a weird, glowing contraption they call a “phone”. Sometimes, they are sitting at a desk looking at what a glowing box they call a “computer” or a “laptop”.

These cavemen aren’t lifting heavy objects anymore or hunting for food to survive. But their necks are always angled down like a vulture and they’re glued to their comfortable office chairs in a place called “work”.

The Paradox of Technology

Phones, tablets, and computers did make our lives easier. Thank God we don’t have to handwrite every report, and manually calculate data anymore. But in many ways, it also made it hard. The most common reason for why employees file a sick leave is now neck and back pain more than anything else.

The sadder part is that technology never leaves us. It’s there when we wake up, there when we’re eating breakfast, there when we’re travelling to work, and there again at our desk at work. It’s bad not because phones and laptops exist, but because they seem to have a magnet that makes our necks curve down to look at it. This is not to account how some workplaces have the worst office chairs for your back.

Social Media, Sadness, and Slouching

Poor posture because of tech seems to be a never ending cycle. We usually use our phones to access social media. There is correlation between depression and constantly being on Facebook or Twitter. Many of us compare our lives to other people’s lives in social media. It highlights the things that we don’t have or we don’t do in life—like having a “happy” relationship, or travelling. Somber feelings such as sadness as a result of being exposed to social media make us slouch. It leads to poor posture.

But poor posture also affects how we feel. A study found that people who sat and stood with their backs hunched all the time reported having lower self-esteem and having a negative perception about life. They were also much more anxious. The research recommended at the end to sit up right as way of de-stressing and becoming resilient to negative events.

Good Posture and a Good Day

Thankfully, our situation isn’t irredeemable. There’s a way to keep your expensive phone and keep a good posture too. One way to improve your posture is to position your keyboard and mouse near your arms and ideally at waist level. Using a wireless keyboard and mouse makes this easier for you as you can just put them on your lap.

More importantly, adjust the screen of your laptop to your eye level. There are a couple of ways to do this. The first is adjusting the height of your chair. If that option isn’t available, use a laptop stand to elevate it. Doing this prevents your neck and shoulders from curving down. Chairs for posture support also help you maintain a straight back while working.

Of course, exercise is part of the recipe. Sedentary work makes it inevitable for you to slouch so don’t be a slave to your seat. Stand up and take a short walk. Stretch your arms, back and legs. Do a couple of rotating neck exercises. This not only prevents back and neck pain at the end of the day, it also gives us time away from our computers and social media, frequent sources of a bad day. Breaking the monotonous routine is a good way to remind ourselves that our work (and social life) shouldn’t have to drag us down. Forming good habits at least minimizes the collateral damage technology causes.