Experts remind: It is best not to send text messages for more than 2 minutes

At friends' gatherings, on the streets, or on buses and subways, you often see people looking down at their phones and texting. The popularity of mobile QQ and WeChat has led to more and more people joining the ranks of the "phone-down tribe". In fact, always looking down to text is bad for your health.

When people write text messages, they are usually accustomed to using their thumbs to press keys. Repeating this action for a long time will cause soreness in the thumbs and swelling of the tendons, resulting in repetitive strain injuries. Steven Conway, a physician with the American Physical Therapy Association, believes that when people look at the small screen of their mobile phones or send text messages for a long time, their attention and finger activities are concentrated in a very small area. At the same time, because the mobile phone is placed too low, it may cause tension in the arm and neck muscles. The eyes of a normal person will continuously secrete tears, and then through blinking, the tears are evenly distributed on the surface of the cornea and conjunctiva to form a tear film to keep the eyeball moist. However, when sending, receiving and reading text messages, you need to stare at a small screen for a long time, which reduces the number of blinks and can induce problems such as dry eyes, eye pain, and visual fatigue. In addition, the impact of texting on attention and sleep cannot be underestimated.

Based on the above reasons, it is recommended that people should not spend too much time sending text messages, think about the content of the text message in advance, and write while thinking, or stop and start writing, which will invisibly prolong the writing time; the time for each text message should be controlled within 2 minutes, and the total time of text messages per day should not exceed 10 minutes; do not stare at the screen when texting, remind yourself to blink every 3 seconds; do not text with one hand or only with the thumb when texting, it is best to hold the phone with both hands at the same time to reduce the pressure on a single finger; when texting, try to keep your head upright and hold the phone vertically at the same height as your eyes to avoid chronic strain of the head and neck caused by holding a single posture for a long time; keep a distance of about 30 to 40 centimeters between your eyes and the phone.

In addition, it is recommended not to choose mobile phone models with narrow and dense keyboards, especially for the elderly and people with poor eyesight. It is better to choose mobile phone models with large keyboards and clear text and images; try to send text messages in a quiet and safe state, and avoid sending text messages while driving or crossing the road to avoid distraction; do not send text messages on buses or subways, otherwise the body of the car will shake and you will be unstable and prone to falling; it is also not suitable to send text messages outdoors in the sun or in strong indoor lighting. It is better to send text messages under soft natural light, and the light should come from the front to avoid shadows obstructing your vision. You can do simple health exercises every time after playing with your mobile phone or writing text messages: first, gently press the eyeballs with the tips of your index, middle and ring fingers for 20 seconds; close your eyes or look into the distance for a few minutes to relieve eyestrain; turn your neck to do the "M" exercise to relieve neck muscle tension.