text pain.

A friend of mine pointed out this article in today's advertiser about text messaging becasue he believes that I text message too much. The article basically discusses how we overuse the tiny buttons on cell phones and palm pilots and how eventually, it will lead to injury due to repeated stress.

This article made me think about how fast technology is moving. It said that the average American sends about 50 text messages a month. This number is far behind other countries, it is 100, 200+, and 60 in Ireland, the Philippines, and Britain respectively. A few years ago, having a cell phone was a luxury. Now, a plain cell phone with only the basic phone functions is unacceptable. All cell phones have text message features and I'm quite sure that teenagers worldwide overuse this feature. Also there's instant messenger, mp3 players, cameras, internet access, video features, bluetooth, etc.

The article says that our generation is going to be the one with the most medical problems due to technology. I totally agree. If you think about it, I cannot spend one day without using something that requires pushing tiny buttons (like a cell phone, calculator, gameboy, digital camera, etc.) or typing on a keyboard. If this theory about repeated use causing injury is true, in 60 years or so, I probably won't be able to use my hands very well.

And to add to this, on the news, I just saw a story about a teenage text message competition in the US where teenagers were challenging one another to who could text message the fastest. The prize: $10,000.