Is This How Hands Would Look If Better Equipped for Smartphone Use?

Concept images have been created depicting what human hands might look like if they were optimized for modern day smartphone use, revealing telling signs of crooked and misshapen fingers and pad-like fingertips to stop the phone from slipping to prevent 'phone planting,' the number one smartphone related injury.

Images have been released to show what human hands would look like if they were adapted to perfectly accommodate the excessive smartphone use common in today's society. An evolutionary biologist has given insight into how evolution would be too slow for any physical changes actually to happen, while a physiotherapist has given tips on preventing injuries caused by excessive smartphone use. But don't worry; your hand won't end up this way anytime soon.

"Any changes to the human hand would take many, many generations, and it is very likely that mobile phones will no longer exist by that point in the course of human evolution," said evolutionary biologist Prishita Maheshwari-Aplin. "Such drastic changes in the structure of the human hand, something that has stayed pretty much the same for millions of years since early hominids started to evolve specialized characteristics for tool-use and throwing/clubbing, are quite unlikely. This is especially the case since the changes, especially the lengthened thumb, could drastically affect other actions humans have to undertake that require an opposable thumb, many of which are far more crucial for survival, such as holding food/cutlery in order to eat or hold a steering wheel properly to avoid accidents."

The images were created by the mobile phone comparison team at www.broadbandchoices.co.uk, who were curious to find out how the physical appearance of hands would change if they could be adapted to use a smartphone more easily. The team considered the use of smartphone devices and the physical impact on the hand, consulting with an evolutionary biologist and physiotherapist on the subject to find out more.

As can be seen in the concept image, adaptions include a more pointed index finger for navigating the smartphone, gel-like pads on some of the fingers for a more secure grip and even crooked thumbs and little fingers to hold the smartphone better and reach further up and across the screen.

The little finger would also change substantially to more easily hold and use a smartphone, due to its use as a support underneath the device. In the image, it is crooked in order to further that angled support, with an indentation in which the phone could rest. Further indentations can be seen across the palm, where again the device would sit.

The predictions of how the hand would look to better accommodate smartphone use came as a result of a survey of 1,000 British adults that revealed the top injuries that Britons encounter due to smartphone use.

Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed have suffered what they consider to be a smartphone-caused injury, with getting a black-eye through losing grip using a smartphone in bed (dubbed 'phone planting') coming top at 58 percent. Brits also listed 'hand strain' (31 percent), 'neck strain' (31 percent) and 'bruising' (23 percent) as occupational hazards of smartphone use.

Furthermore, when asked what they had been doing with their smartphone at the time the injuries were sustained, 'browsing social media' (58 percent), 'texting/messaging' (42 percent) and 'playing a game' (31 percent) were the top actions. Facebook (50 percent) and Snapchat (31 percent) were the top social media apps being used at the time.

When asked if they'd injured anyone else while using their smartphone, half of the respondents (50 percent) confessed that 'yes' they had. Almost half of respondents admitted to being a 'smartphone zombie, walking into someone while distracted (46 percent), while a further 30 percent had dropped their phone onto another person.

"Most people do not realize the physical implications of smartphone use for their body. The consequences of constant scrolling or swiping incorporated with a hunched-over posture is affecting our bodies negatively and is very apparent in some of the injuries I see on a regular basis," said Hannah Cox, a physiotherapist from HC Sports Therapy. "It's a shame that smartphone companies are not designing phones to be more ergonomic, as it should become a priority! One option could be to purchase an ergonomic case until smartphone companies manufacture their products to benefit our health."

For more tips to prevent smartphone-caused injuries, visit https://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/features/will-our-hands-evolve-to-make-smartphone-use-easier

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