LONDON [Reuters, 20 Feb 2006] --- Mobile telephone text messaging has become so popular in Britain that millions of users now suffer injuries to their thumbs and fingers because of their love of keeping in touch, according to a survey on Tuesday.
Over 93.5 million text messages are sent every day but all this digit action has lead to an explosion in people reporting cases of repetitive strain injury (RSI).
Thirty-eight percent more people suffer from sore wrists and thumbs due to texting than five years ago and 3.8 million people now complain of text-related injuries every year.
Even if British texters are able to send 100 million text messages daily in the future, that average still pales in comparison to the Philippine daily average of more than 300 million text messages sent daily (all networks). After all, the Philippines is the text messaging capital of the world! We even removed a President from office by text messaging.
But you can't hear anyone here complaining about thumb or finger problems, worsening carpal tunnel syndromes, or repetitive strain injuries. So, why the difference between the British and the Philippine setting?
My theory: size matters. I think that cellular phone models are uniform in dimensions no matter in what country they are sold. And what do people use when sending text messages? Their hands and their thumbs and their fingers, of course. Not all hands are created equal.
My proposed solution: Customized keypads for our Western brothers. Just like in books which have large-print editions for people who have trouble reading small letters, people with bigger hands need bigger keypads.
4 reactions:
yes, size really matters , but 300 million texts against 100 million tells me that filipinos suffer, yet think nothing of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is not to stop them from texting anyway. i say 'them' because i don't enjoy texting, which is probably the plus or minus to using a pda phone with stylus ;)
i remember this funny incident at the airport while i was waiting for my flight. i was typing an SMS when 3 french guys approached me and asked if i was really texting or just playing some guys. they couldn't believe how fast i was going. i told them that it is normal in the philippines haha!
and yes, they have bigger hands and bigger fingers, the scope of 1 finger is almost 4 keys already hehe!
Good for you, Mayamaya. Take care of those beautiful hands. I myself do not enjoy texting.
Now...that's a validation, Eye. Thanks.
Thank you for linking to my articles. I very much appreciate it. =)
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