Our Kids are changing...

We are very fortunate to live in a world full of ever increasing technology, things that are made to make our lives that little bit easier. This technology is moving forwards at a very fast pace and some of us just can't seem to keep up, no matter what! That someone includes me and most of my generation. I think? The teenagers of the early 1980s.

In our day, the cutting edge technology was things like the mobile phone, yes we really did have mobile phones albeit the size of a house brick with a separate battery pack you had to carry around. These mostly from what I remember were only available to businessmen who liked to show off every now and then. I say every now and then because the battery would only last about an hour and the signal was completely useless. We also had home computers for the first time, ones with names like BBC, Amstrad, Sinclair and Commodore 64... really exciting eh? These compared to today were as slow as a snail and made just lots of beeping sounds that played games from a cassette tape. 

What's a cassette tape , Dad? Aaarrghh!

But to the kids of today, that was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and we lived in caves. These days, technology has gone completely and utterly bonkers and it seems that there is no slowing it down. There is a new smartphone on the shelves every week, these phones can do almost anything want them to do: check emails, send and take photos or videos, and loads more things besides that I just can't get my head around, and to top it all they are getting thinner and smaller all the time, too.

Home computers today are lightning fast with the help of this technology and a thing called Broadband.

We had to wait an hour just to connect with the Inter-Web thingy back in the day as it had to dial up BT first to almost ask permission. These are also getting thinner and smaller, lighter, as our modern way of living is demanding more and more portable gadgets so we can keep in touch with each other wherever we are in the world at any time of day or night.

Not a bad thing if you are a parent and worried where your kids are, but if you are a teenager I suppose it can feel like you're on Big Brother, as a concerned mum or dad ring you 20 times an hour (slight exaggeration there, maybe?) to see where you are and when you will be coming home for your tea.

Gone are the days when as a youngster you could just roam around anywhere as long as long as you had a watch on your wrist and you knew what time to be back home, there was no problem.

But the world has changed and so have the people that inhabit it, unfortunately, so as a parent myself in today's society here goes...

Hoorah, for technology!

But saying that, there is a downside to all this gadgetry stuff that is available to us and the effect  it is having on our health! Youngsters today may not think it and will instantly dismiss it as they play on their iPads and smartphones, but they too are changing.

If you haven't noticed yourself, just take a look the next time teenager has their mates round or when you walk around the town centre shopping. What I mean by changing is not the voice breaking, acne scarring, hormonal tantrums and mood swings ( some things will never change) but their posture.

Besides seeming to be a lot taller these days they are also becoming more round shouldered, they walk with their head down especially boys that are always looking at their phones and this develops a thing called 'Text Neck'.

'Text Neck' was first coined by US Chiropractor Dr Dean L Fishman to describe the changes in our youngsters posture and the stresses they put on themselves by excessive texting and overuse of all handheld electronic devices. The term and health condition, is derived from the onset of cervical spinal degeneration resulting from the repeated stress of frequent forward head flexion while looking down at the screens of mobile devices and 'texting' for long periods of time.

While 'Text Neck' is certainly a new medical term the condition is impacting millions and is a growing critical global concern. (by kind permission of http://text-neck.com/)

So as technology moves 'forwards', we are actually taking a step 'backwards'. It seems that the technology that our young people love and embrace so much is actually damaging their health now.

To avoid our young people today from becoming 'Our Crippled Generation of the Future'

we need to start now by educating them early on in their lives about the use of these gadgets and how they can look after themselves better as they use them.

Some of the effects on our young people's health by using mobile devices that are already being reported by Health Professionals are:

Text Neck ( Forward head)

Blackberry Thumb (RSI) 

Headaches & Migraines

Flattening of the spinal curve

Lower back problems such as spinal disc compression, muscle and nerve damage.

Early onset arthritis, low lung volume capacity due to prolonged hunched positioning  and spinal degeneration.

Most of which used to affect our older generations.

So, as I said earlier in this article, our health seems to be going 'backwards' whilst technology is moving 'forwards'. If at all possible, what would be nice is to try and find that balance between  the two, but at the moment to educate our children from a young age would be a start.

Your local Dorn Method Practitioner can check your teenagers posture and advise you on how they can look after themselves now and in the future.

Article written for Choice Health Magazine

by Paul Knowles, Copyright 2013

Advanced Dorn Method Practitioner

www.dornmethodnottingham.co.uk