Smartphone Texting Research Articles

Effects of forward head posture on the centre of pressure sway during dual-task balancing with smartphone engagement

PurposeForward head posture (FHP) may affect postural stability and balance. This study examines how smartphone texting while balancing, as a dual task, influences the body’s centre of pressure (CoP) during single-leg standing in individuals with FHP compared to those with normal posture.MethodsThe study utilized a randomized repeated measures design to assess single-leg standing balance and CoP across six conditions. Fifty participants, divided into two groups (25 with FHP and 25 with normal posture), underwent testing sequences involving non-smartphone usage (NU; single task), one-handed smartphone usage (1H; dual task), and two-handed smartphone usage (2H; dual task) on both soft and hard surfaces.ResultsThe study found that individuals with FHP showed increased CoP sway compared to those with normal posture across all conditions. Both 1H and 2H increased sway compared to non-usage for both groups, with a notable difference in FHP individuals on soft surfaces, where 2H led to greater sway.ConclusionsIndividuals with FHP are at a higher risk of balance issues during both NU and smartphone use, particularly during 2H. These results highlight the importance of addressing the impact of FHP on balance control and implementing interventions to reduce associated risks.

Different smartphone tasks and traffic complexity affect pedestrian awareness of co-existing road objects and cerebral oxygenation during shared space walking

Distraction, primarily owing to the widespread use of cell phones and mobile devices while walking, is a contributing factor to pedestrian injuries. Pedestrians distracted by smartphones exhibit decreased situational awareness, influenced by the nature of concurrent tasks. However, little is known about the neural correlations between smartphone use and pedestrian responses to safety–critical events in a walking environment. This study recruited 30 young adults to investigate pedestrians’ ability to selectively respond to road objects while using smartphones (texting and reading) while walking in an immersive virtual environment system. The level of traffic complexity for the road conditions was manipulated by varying the number of safety–critical road objects coexisting in the environment at any given time and the number of required responses to the number of objects. During each 7-min task condition, cerebral oxygenation was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Furthermore, smartphone task performance, response times to road objects, and perceived workload were also measured. The participants exhibited reduced texting speed and reading performance when responding sequentially to coexisting road objects. Compared with other road conditions, those requiring two responses to four objects resulted in an increased workload and longer object response times. Participants perceived a higher workload in conditions involving tasks with smartphones than those without smartphones. More importantly, increased concentrations of oxygenated hemoglobin in the prefrontal cortex were observed when participants were concurrently performing smartphone and pedestrian tasks. Compared to smartphone reading, smartphone texting induced greater cerebral oxygenation in the bilateral frontopolar cortex. These results suggest that continuously texting while walking may demand additional cognitive resources for executive function. The findings of this study represent an initial step towards elucidating the cognitive mechanisms underlying attentional impairments experienced during smartphone distraction and working towards a viable solution to mitigate pedestrian risk.

Ergonomic evaluation of upper extremities muscle activity pattern during 60-min smartphone texting.

Smartphone usage has increased rapidly in the last decade due to rapid technological advancements. This extensive usage of smartphones led to physiological problems and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) due to inappropriate postures. Past studies have reported the effects/discomfort of smartphone usage for short periods, ranging from 3-20 min, which does not represent the current era of smartphone dependency (approximately 7-hr/day). This study was performed on fifty-four participants aged 20-28 with 1-hr smartphone texting in a sitting posture. Flexion angles, both sides (dominant and non-dominant) muscle activity (maximum voluntary contraction %) at sternocleidomastoid (SCM), upper-trapezius (TRP), extensor digitorum (EDM) and abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscles, and subjective discomfort were analyzed. After 1-hr smartphone texting, the muscle activity at eight upper extremities: SCM (24.80%), TRP (29.45%), EDM (14.44%) and APB (19.87%) significantly (p < 0.001) increased by 1.5-1.9 times with 27.4±3.18° and 82.94±7.03° head and lower-arm flexion angles, respectively. The mechanical loads on the cervical spine increased by 4.6 times, and subjective discomfort by 3 times. Maintaining the same posture for a long duration causes postural stress, muscular imbalances, and discomfort, leading to MSD with increased cervical intervertebral disc pressure.

Musculoskeletal pain symptoms in users performing smartphone texting: A preliminary study on institute environment

Nowadays, smartphones have become an integral part of our lives as the advancement of technologies leads the world to use such devices as a mode of communication. Everyone relies on their smartphones for our daily activities, irrespective of adopted painful postures leading to musculoskeletal pain symptoms. The present study investigates the possible factors associated with musculoskeletal pain among institute students performing smartphone texting in various postural conditions. A cross-sectional study was conducted on Indian Institute students (N = 447; female = 194; male = 253) using a self-administered online questionnaire to gather a self-report measure of musculoskeletal pain. Various postures adopted while freely performing smartphone texting were considered in four institute environment conditions: sitting on a chair, sitting on a staircase, standing and walking. Multi nominal regression analysis was used to identify the occurrence of musculoskeletal pain with associated factors. Significant associations found included musculoskeletal pain in the neck (odds ratio 2.16, 95% confidence interval 0.86–3.47), and the shoulder (2.11, 0.67–5.93) for the time spent on smartphone texting of 6–9 h on a typical day. The pain in the neck (2.06, 0.49–3.17) and the back (2.11, 0.65–4.38) was also statistically significant for the users' texting condition while sitting on a staircase. It was observed that students mostly acquire excessive flexed neck-trunk posture during smartphone texting, causing pain symptoms and is mostly of major concern to heavy users.

EFL college students’ perceptions toward the overall implementation of online class during the COVID-19 pandemic: Focusing on self-directed learning and motivation

The purpose of this study is to investigate not only the EFL college students’ perceptions about the overall implementation of online classes for general English courses but also the extent of self-directed learning and learning motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic. For data collection, a survey was done of 123 junior-college students who took online English classes. The results revealed the followings: First, students were highly satisfied with online video lectures, especially regarding the length of lecture, learning contents, and class satisfaction. Second, students had little difficulty in interacting with their professors due to frequent and prompt feedback by both LMS and smartphone texting. In particular, this feedback motivated students towards self-directed learning. Though students preferred online video lectures, they agreed that the most effective learning method for English classes takes place in face-to-face classes.

Hot Off the Press: Addressing gender inequities: Creation of a multi-institutional consortium of women physicians in academic emergency medicine.

Hot Off the Press: Addressing gender inequities: Creation of a multi-institutional consortium of women physicians in academic emergency medicine.

The effects of shoulder posture on neck and shoulder musculoskeletal loading and discomfort during smartphone usage

While using their smartphone, users tend to adopt awkward neck and shoulder postures for an extended duration. Such postures impose the risk of MSDs on those body parts. Numerous studies have been undertaken to examine neck posture; however, few studies have investigated shoulder postures. This study examined various shoulder postures during smartphone use and their effect on neck and shoulder kinematics, muscle loading, and neck/shoulder discomfort. Thirty-two asymptomatic young adult smartphone users randomly performed texting tasks for 3 min at four different shoulder flexion angles (15°, 30°, 45°, and 60°), while maintained a neck posture in the neutral position (0° neck flexion angle). Measures were taken of neck and shoulder muscle activity of the cervical erector spinae (CES), anterior deltoid (AD), upper trapezius (UT) and lower trapezius (LT), and kinematic data (angle, distance and gravitational moment). Results showed AD and LT muscle activity significantly increased when the shoulder flexion angle increased with an opposite effect on CES and UT. A recommended shoulder posture was identified as 30° flexion, as this yielded the best compromise between activation levels of the four muscles studied. This angle also induced the lowest neck/shoulder discomfort score. The findings suggest smartphone users hold their device at approximately 30° shoulder flexion angle with their neck in a neutral posture to reduce the risk of shoulder and neck musculoskeletal disorders when smartphone texting. Relevance to industrySmartphone use in the manufacturing and service industries is an integral part of work and useful means of communication tool. Awkward postures during extensive smartphone use impose an increased risk of both neck and shoulder musculoskeletal disorders. Shoulder flexion angles need consideration when making recommendations about safe work postures during smartphone use.

An empirical study of emoji usage on Twitter in linguistic and national contexts

Emojis or ‘picture characters’ have become ubiquitous in modern-day digital communication, including social media sharing and smartphone texting. Despite this ubiquity, many questions remain about their usage, especially with respect to global variations in language and country. These questions are important, in part because they reveal how people communicate digitally on social platforms, but also because they provide a lens through which different regions and cultures can be studied. In this paper, we conduct a principled, quantitative study to understand emoji usage in terms of linguistic and country correlates. Our study involves 30 languages and countries each, and is conducted over tens of millions of tweets collected from the Twitter decahose over an entire month. Drawing on both statistical measures and information theory, our results reveal that, not only does emoji usage have strong dependencies at both the language and country level, but that some languages and countries are much more constrained in the diversity of their emoji usage. However, we also discover that the ‘popularity’ of emojis, both globally and within the context of a given language, follows a robust and invariant trend that emerges fairly quickly (over just a day’s worth of data) and cannot be explained either by a power-law or Heap’s law-like distribution.

Linking head and neck posture with muscular activity and perceived discomfort during prolonged smartphone texting

Prolonged use of the smartphone for texting was studied on a sample of 17 healthy young adult participants (11 females), who were asked to type interactively on a handheld device while standing and sitting. Upper body kinematics ad upper trapezius surface EMG were recorded to capture parameters of joint kinematics and muscular activity, which were then compared with self-reported indicators of discomfort through the Borg's CR 10 scale questionnaire. The results indicated that, while showing a similar postural strategy in both conditions that is assumed to be controlled by the visual system to maintain a constant viewing distance from the device, the participants adopted a “stiffer” posture of the head and neck during standing than when sitting, with a direct correlation between upper trapezius muscle activity, neck angle and perceived discomfort. The evidence obtained in this study highlights the importance of monitoring muscle activity and head and neck kinematics, to assess the biomechanical risk factors of neuromuscular disorders associated with smartphone overuse.

Ergonomic evaluation of the effects of forearm conditions and body postures on trapezius muscle activity during smartphone texting

Neck-shoulder and upper back musculoskeletal symptoms in smartphone users have gained increasing attention. We evaluated trapezius muscle activity and fatigue using an objective method (surface electromyography, sEMG), and discomfort using a subjective method (questionnaire), in smartphone users during the performance of different text-entry tasks. Fifteen participants were recruited to perform six text-entry tasks under different forearm conditions (floating and supported) and body postures (sitting, standing, lying, and walking). We collected upper trapezius (UT) and lower trapezius (LT) sEMG data, and recorded muscle discomfort scores after each task. We found that static postures (especially sitting) during smartphone use predisposed to lower muscle activity with higher fatigue level and discomfort scores than dynamic posture; there was a significant main effect of body posture on average sEMG amplitude (aEMG) and discomfort scores of both muscles (all p < 0.05). Moreover, using a smartphone with the forearm supported can reduce muscle activity, fatigue level, and discomfort scores; there was a significant main effect of the forearm condition on aEMG and discomfort scores of both muscles (all p < 0.05). Our study indicates that smartphone use with the forearm floating for a long time in a static posture should be avoided (especially while sitting).

Effects of kinesio taping on neck-shoulder discomfort and EMG responses during smartphone texting in healthy young adults.

While kinesio taping (KT) is used in several clinical settings to correct posture and reduce pain, KT effects during smartphone texting are unknown. To investigate the effects among healthy young adults of KT on neck-shoulder discomfort and electromyographic (EMG) responses of neck and upper trunk muscles during smartphone texting. Twenty-four participants performed a 30-minute texting task on a smartphone using both hands at two separate times under one of two conditions: KT on the right shoulder and no taping. Neck-shoulder discomfort was assessed, along with the normalized root mean square (NRMS) and normalized median frequency (NMF) of the right cervical erector spinae (CES), lower trapezius (LT), and serratus anterior (SA). Compared to baseline, both groups had significantly greater neck-shoulder discomfort, and NRMS and NMF of all muscles (p < 0.001) after performing a 30-minute texting task. Comparing between groups, the KT group experienced significantly less neck-shoulder discomfort, and demonstrated delayed deterioration of NRMS and NMF of right CES and LT muscles (p < 0.05). During smartphone texting, KT on the shoulder decreased neck-shoulder discomfort and delayed reduction of activation and fatigue of neck and upper trunk muscles among healthy young adults.

Smartphone-Based Answering to School Subject Questions Alters Gait in Young Digital Natives.

Smartphone texting while walking is a very common activity among people of different ages, with the so-called “digital natives” being the category most used to interacting with an electronic device during daily activities, mostly for texting purposes. Previous studies have shown how the concurrency of a smartphone-related task and walking can result in a worsening of stability and an increased risk of injuries for adults; an investigation of whether this effect can be identified also in people of a younger age can improve our understanding of the risks associated with this common activity. In this study, we recruited 29 young adolescents (12 ± 1 years) to test whether walking with a smartphone increases fall and injuries risk, and to quantify this effect. To do so, participants were asked to walk along a walkway, with and without the concurrent writing task on a smartphone; several different parameters linked to stability and risk of fall measures were then calculated from an inertial measurement unit and compared between conditions. Smartphone use determined a reduction of spatio-temporal parameters, including step length (from 0.64 ± 0.08 to 0.55 ± 0.06 m) and gait speed (1.23 ± 0.16 to 0.90 ± 0.16 m/s), and a general worsening of selected indicators of gait stability. This was found to be mostly independent from experience or frequency of use, suggesting that the presence of smartphone activities while walking may determine an increased risk of injury or falls also for a population that grew up being used to this concurrency.

Evaluating the Impact of a New Smartphone Texting Tool on Patient Care in Obstetrics, an Emergent Healthcare Setting.

Hospitals across the country are investing millions of dollars to adopt new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant secure text messaging systems. However, in nearly all cases, these implementations are occurring without evaluation of their impact on patient care. To evaluate perceived impact on patient care and workflow of new text messaging system implemented in obstetrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital and to inform guidelines for future implementations in emergent settings. A new HIPAA-compliant texting system was implemented in obstetrics in 2016. Before implementation of the new system, residents and nurses were surveyed on perceived effect of communication system (pagers with text receiving, service mobile phones, personal cell phones) on clinical workflow and patient care using 5-point Likert scale and open-ended questions. Following roll-out (1 and 6 months), both teams were surveyed with same questions. Results were compared using Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test (0-1 months and then 0-6 months). Open-ended question results were qualitatively compared for recurrent unifying themes. In both nursing and resident domains, 1 month after implementation, the new communication system was perceived to significantly improve efficiency and patient care across all metrics. After 6 months, this effect decayed in nearly all categories (including efficiency, real-time communication, and knowledge of covering provider). The exception was nurse's knowledge of which resident to contact and resident's timely evaluation of patient, for which we observed sustained improvements. System shortcomings identified included interrupted connection (i.e., dropped calls), dysfunctional and inaccurate alert system, and unclear identification of the covering provider. A new text-messaging-based communication system may improve efficiency and patient care in emergent settings, but system shortcomings can substantially erode potential benefits over time. We recommend implementers evaluate new systems for a set of specific functional requirements to increase probability of sustained improvement and decrease risk of poor patient outcomes.

Cortical Activation during Walking While Smartphone Texting: a Dual Task Based fNRIS Study

Cortical Activation during Walking While Smartphone Texting: a Dual Task Based fNRIS Study

Ergonomic risk assessment of smartphone users using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) tool.

The number of smartphone users globally is rapidly increasing. This study aimed to assess the level of ergonomic risk to smartphone users, and to evaluate the correlation between any self-reported musculoskeletal disorders and the level of ergonomic risk. Thirty participants completed a questionnaire, tailored specifically for smartphone users, to determine any musculoskeletal disorders. Participants were given a seated smartphone texting task and their postures were video recorded during the task. The video scenarios were evaluated by three independent researchers to determine the level of ergonomic risk using the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) tool. RULA is an observation-based screening tool which has been widely used to assess the postural risk of IT device users. However, it has not yet been specifically utilized with smartphone users. The RULA tool scores identified ergonomics risks from using smartphones to text. Most smartphone users had a total RULA Grand Score of 6 for both sides (left side: 80.00%, right side: 90.00%), indicating the need for further investigation and changes (Action Level 3). Notably, no participants had acceptable RULA Grand Scores of 1 or 2. The correlation between musculoskeletal disorders and the ergonomic risk among smartphone users was determined using the Chi-Square test and Fisher's exact test; p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. There was a significant correlation between right RULA Grand Score and neck musculoskeletal disorder (χ2 = 9.424 at p value = 0.009) and right RULA Grand Score and upper back musculoskeletal disorder (χ2 = 31.717 at p value <0.001). RULA Score B (combination of neck, trunk and leg postures) and RULA Score D (combination of Score B, muscle use and force scores for group B) were also significantly correlated with neck musculoskeletal disorders (χ2 = 19.286 at p value<0.001 and χ2 = 9.310 at p value = 0.002 respectively). The RULA results identified the high ergonomics risk of smartphone users, this resulted from two key risk factors: posture and muscle use. The neck, trunk and leg postures had a combined effect on neck musculoskeletal disorders. Future investigations should consider these factors when designing ergonomic interventions for smartphone users.

Spinal kinematics during smartphone texting – A comparison between young adults with and without chronic neck-shoulder pain

To advance our understanding about the association between smartphone use and chronic neck-shoulder pain, the objective of this study was to compare spinal kinematics between different text-entry methods in smartphone users with and without chronic neck-shoulder pain. Symptomatic (n = 19) and healthy participants (n = 18) were recruited and they performed three tasks: texting on a smartphone with one hand, with two hands, and typing on a desktop computer. Three-dimensional kinematics were examined in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions for each task. This study suggests that altered kinematics may be associated with pain since significantly increased angles of cervical right side flexion during smartphone texting and greater postural changes in cervical rotation were found during all text-entry tasks in the symptomatic group. Two-handed texting was associated with increased cervical flexion while one-handed texting was correlated with an asymmetric neck posture, indicating both text-entry methods are not favorable in terms of spinal postures.

Evaluating Effect of New Secure Smartphone Texting Tool in Obstetrics [7K

INTRODUCTION: As hospitals consider adopting HIPAA-compliant smartphone-based messaging, it is necessary to determine impact. Small studies found texting reliable and efficient, but insecure for patient information. Literature is sparse on new HIPAA-compliant texting, with no relevant studies in obstetrics. We evaluated a new HIPAA-compliant texting system (MH-Cure by Mobile Heartbeat) implemented in obstetrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 2016 for perceived effect on care and workflow. METHODS: Before implementation, surveyed residents and nurses on effects of current communication system (pagers with text receiving, service mobile phones, personal cellphones) on clinical workflow and patient care. Following roll-out (1-month), teams were again surveyed with same questions. Surveys used both 5-point Likert scale and open-ended questions. Results compared using Student t-tests. RESULTS: In both resident (n=18) and nursing (n=47) domains, new communication tool was perceived to improve efficiency (improving from no effect to moderately effective (Residents: p &lt; .001, Nurses: p &lt; .001)) and enhance patient care (improving from minor negative impact to minor positive impact (Residents: p &lt; .001, Nurses: p &lt; .001)). Qualitative results strongly favor two-way messaging (60% of respondents mentioned) and indicate quick adoption (89% of respondents using) with concerns regarding new system's impact and connectivity during emergencies (35% of respondents mentioned). CONCLUSION: New text-based communication tool does not demonstrate subjective workflow interruptions, and may improve efficiency and care. Despite significant shortcomings, even in first month of implementation a system can demonstrate impactful benefits. We recommend teams implementing new technologies for communication plan, test, and communicate strategies to avoid implementation flaws during emergencies.

Effects of smartphone texting on the visual perception and dynamic walking stability.

Mobile phone use while walking can cause dual-task interference and increases safety risks by increasing attentional and cognitive demands. While the interference effect on cognitive function has been examined extensively, how perception of the environment and walking dynamics are affected by mobile phone use while walking is not well understood. The amount of visual information loss and its consequent impact on dynamic walking stability was examined in this study. Young adults (mean, 20.3 years) volunteered and walked on a treadmill while texting and attending to visual tasks simultaneously. Performance of visual task, field of regard loss, and margin of stability under dual-task conditions were compared with those of single-task conditions (i.e., visual task only). The results revealed that the size of visual field and visual acuity demand were varied across the visual task conditions. Approximately half of the visual cues provided during texting while walking were not perceived as compared to the visual task only condition. The field of regard loss also increased with increased dual-task cost of mobile phone use. Dynamic walking stability, however, showed no significant differences between the conditions. Taken together, the results demonstrate that the loss of situational awareness is unavoidable and occurs simultaneously with decrements in concurrent task performance. The study indicates the importance of considering the nature of attentional resources for the studies in dual-task paradigm and may provide practical information to improve the safe use of mobile phones while walking.

A comparison of muscle activity in using touchscreen smartphone among young people with and without chronic neck–shoulder pain

This study aimed to examine differences in muscle activity between young people with and without neck–shoulder pain (n = 20 in each group), when they performed texting on a smartphone. Texting was compared between using both hands (‘bilateral texting’) and with only one hand (‘unilateral texting’). Texting tasks were also compared with computer typing. Surface electromyography from three proximal postural muscles and four distal hand/thumb muscles on the right side was recorded. Compared with healthy controls, young people with neck–shoulder pain showed altered motor control consisting of higher muscle activity in the cervical erector spinae and upper trapezius when performing texting and typing tasks. Generally, unilateral texting was associated with higher muscle loading compared with bilateral texting especially in the forearm muscles. Compared with computer typing, smartphone texting was associated with higher activity in neck extensor and thumb muscles but lower activity in upper and lower trapezius as well as wrist extensors.

Mutual interferences of driving and texting performance

Despite legislative and social campaigns to reduce texting while driving, drivers continue to text behind the wheel. There is abundant evidence demonstrating that texting while driving impairs driving performance. While past driver distraction research has focused on how texting influences driving, the influence of driving on texting behaviors has been overlooked. This study used a Lane Change Task and a smartphone texting application to study the mutual influences of driving and texting. Results showed that concurrent texting impaired driving by increasing the lane deviation. Meanwhile, driving impaired texting by increasing texting completion time, texting errors, and key entry time intervals, and reduced key entry speed. In addition, we show that texting behavioral data collected can be used to distinguish texting while driving from texting-only condition with an accuracy of 88.5%. The mutual interferences of driving and texting inform the theory of dual-task performance and provide a scientific foundation to develop a smartphone-based technology to reduce the risky behavior of texting while driving.