London - Workers glued to their smartphones are coming down with a bizarre condition known as “text neck”.
The painful complaint, caused by hunching for hours over a small screen, is one of a range of health problems feared to be caused by excessive screen time.
Medics have even warned of “texter’s thumb”, in which smartphone users develop repetitive strain injury from long periods of typing on the devices’ keypads.
Camden council in north London believes that an “always on” technology-obsessed culture is leaving workers exhausted and forced to take more sick days.
Deputy Chief Executive Rachel Stopard warned: “The council needs to be responsive to the digitisation megatrend that is creating the 24/7 workforce, with employees operating anywhere, anytime on any device.”
In a report entitled Camden as a Healthy Employer, she wrote: “Whilst the potential benefits are that more flexibility and more adaptability equals more wellbeing, there is a danger that “always on” may mean employees are never off. Stress, burnout and a general deterioration of wellbeing are the undesired but potentially very real consequences.”
She said absence due to stress, depression and other mental health issues accounted for 19.2 percent of sick days across the council, ‘significantly’ higher than the figure reported nationally.
George Binette, of trade union Unison, said council cuts were causing employee stress, but added: “Digitisation may also be a factor.”
Daily Mail