Smartphones, Posture, and Mood | Hacker News Reader

Smartphones, Posture, and Mood

nytimes.com

72 pointsadriand30 comments

There used to be a big thing for ergonomic setup of displays and keyboards. Chairs with arms, screen at eye height. At one time, having the keyboard rigidly attached to the monitor was considered unacceptable and a cause of carpal tunnel syndrome. This seems to have been totally lost in the laptop era.

Maybe the output-mostly orientation of modern computing has relieved some of that problem.

Not so much the chair, but I've just tried putting the laptop on the top of the bureau in the man cave (about 10 inches above the desk flap) so that I am looking at the screen at about eye height, and yes, neck is much happier.

Being a remote worker without a fixed office, I have given up on the ergonomic chair. A laptop stand and a detached keyboard seems like a viable option, though.

To other "nomads" out there: Any suggestions? What works for you?

Put a case for glasses under the back of the laptop.

> Chairs with arms

I don't remember where, but I've heard that chair with arms are not optimal since they constantly apply pressure to the interior of your forearm.

I wonder if the same would hold true for voracious (book) readers? Not as popular these days, maybe there's an equivalent of the "everybody reading their paper on the train" picture for this too.

> maybe there's an equivalent of the "everybody reading their paper on the train"

Here:

http://imgur.com/gallery/GAyn8r7/

http://i.imgur.com/tNmuEai.jpg

Although it's more about newspapers than books.

Books, magazines and newspapers are different, in that there's no need to actively use the hands.

Manipulating newspapers definitely requires an active use of hands and some skills in order to keep sanity.

Yes, but the hands are grasping and folding. And the arms are extended. It's hard to swipe and type in that posture.

Hunching over a tiny display has never appealed to me. For many years, I expected that HUDs would become common for smartphones. But it never happened. Glass was backasswards. I'm obviously not in the target demographic.

I expected infinite-focal glasses to come up. When the ophtalmologist says we should look in the far every 15 minutes, it's because we contract our muscles too much and might cause myopia. It could be solved with lenses, but it seems I'm alone in this demographic too ;)

I don't really gt the mass adoption of smartphones for everything either. Touchscreen keyboard combined with a miniscule display is just painful usability wise. If I need to send much more than a few lines I will usually wait until I can get to a proper computer.

this is one of the reasons I'll probably never get on the tablet trend. It's really uncomfortable to use a tablet for even 20 minutes for me, even with a keyboard attached the screen is still too low and too small to do anything useful

It doesn't seem much different from reading a book as far as posture is concerned.

I might be weird but I usually change my posture between book on table and holding book up with elbow on the table

Equally doable with a tablet, and in both cases it looks more-less the same, including putting an object behind the tablet/book to have the latter lie angled.

hm you might have a point there, it's probably doable with lighter tablets like kindles

Somewhat related personal observation about muscle activity affecting the mood I'm in: keeping your face relaxed when it rains makes the negative feeling go away.

When it rains, you typically grin your face similarly to crying or being angry, causing negative emotions. When you relax your facial muscles, being out in the rain becomes less annoying.

This is an interesting observation and I'm looking forward to trying it. It probably fits in with another common (I would guess) experience, which is when you are so wet in the rain, that you cease trying to remain dry. That is often a freeing feeling and you can become truly joyful in the rain.

Sadly, this is yet another experience ruined by smartphones - you can't relax and enjoy being wet in the rain because you're so worried about your phone getting ruined!

Take up whitewate kayaking. Rain = high water = more excitement and the sport at its best (in Scotland at least where the rivers are fairly small).

http://steamtraen.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/a-cute-story-to-be-...

http://weneverlookup.tumblr.com/

This is part of why VR/AR is going to be central to the future of mobile devices.

One would hope ;)

So we're becoming a generations of iHumpbacks?

But where else will I look to not be awkward?!

Your feet are a solid standby.

does the same applies for using only laptops?

They're a different sort of ergonomic insanity.

Although I do like touchpads. It's been over a decade since I used a mouse on my machines.

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