Psychophysiological Patterns During Cell Phone Text Messaging: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

This study investigated the psychophysiological patterns associated with cell phone text messaging (texting). Twelve college students who were very familiar with texting were monitored with surface electromyography (SEMG) from the shoulder (upper trapezius) and thumb (abductor pollicis brevis/opponens pollicis); blood volume pulse (BVP) from the middle finger, temperature from the index finger, and skin conductance (SC) from the palm of the non-texting hand; and respiration from the thorax and abdomen. The counter-balanced procedure consisted of a 2 min pre-baseline, 1 min receiving text messages, 2 min middle baseline, 1 min sending text messages and 2 min post-baseline. The results indicated that all subjects showed significant increases in respiration rate, heart rate, SC, and shoulder and thumb SEMG as compared to baseline measures. Eighty-three percentage of the participants reported hand and neck pain during texting, and held their breath and experienced arousal when receiving text messages. Subjectively, most subjects were unaware of their physiological changes. The study suggests that frequent triggering of these physiological patterns (freezing for stability and shallow breathing) may increase muscle discomfort symptoms. Thus, participants should be trained to inhibit these responses to prevent illness and discomfort.

The BlackBerry Project: The Hidden World of Adolescents' Text Messaging and Relations With Internalizing Symptoms

“…Although total text units could not be included in the regression models due to extreme multicollinearity with positive texts, in the extreme groups' analyses total text messaging frequency was significantly associated only with somatic complaints. This may be due simply to the fact that sending texts relates to physiological arousal (Lin & Peper, ), to awkward neck and wrist positions (Gold et al., ) and may interfere with sleep (Van den Bulck, ).…”

“…Text messaging may relate to somatic complaints as part of an internalizing syndrome for the reasons described above, but also because sending and receiving text messages involves physiological arousal and may interfere with sleep. When sending and receiving text messages, college students showed increases in respiration, heart rate, skin conductance, and shoulder and thumb tension (Lin & Peper, ). An observational study of posture found that while texting, participants had flexed necks and wrists in unnatural positions, which could contribute to musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis and tendonitis (Gold et al., ).…”

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

“…Gold et al (2012) reported that over 90% of the university students adopted a flexed neck posture, with protracted shoulders and non-neutral wrist postures on the typing side when they used their mobile devices. Lin and Peper (2009) showed increased amplitude of the shoulder and thumb surface electromyography (EMG) in healthy subjects after 1-minute message texting using mobile devices as well as increased neck -shoulder discomfort after the task. Only one laboratory study has examined the shoulder and hand muscle activity while using conventional keypad phones for texting among symptomatic individuals (Gustafsson, Johnson, and Hagberg 2010).…”

Risk factors and clinical features of text message injuries

“…The degree of abduction varies from type of mobile used by the users [5].Muscle activity while texting in mobile is also significantly different between individuals with and without musculoskeletal symptoms. A study reported that frequent triggering the physiological responses may increase muscle discomfort symptoms [8]. There are studies which revealed that design of the mobile phone and the anthropometry has an impact on the development of discomfort and fatigue in body parts like shoulder, hand etc.…”