A bajillion, gajillion (aching) thumbs
by Imran Ali
Back in November, we reported that Brits were sending 1.2bn text messages each week. Today, just eight months later, the UK’s Mobile Data Association released figures (as reported by BBC News) covering the first half of 2008 that show in increase to 1.4bn messages per week, surprisingly including 10m photo messages.
Assuming an SMS averages 5p and MMS 10p, that’s likely to be around £60-70m of revenue each week for a product will a relatively miniscule cost base…an astonishing figure which underlines the massive consumer appeal of SMS and MMS and its value to cellcos. All the more impressive when comparing the 28bn UK messages with 80bn messages sent across the US in the same period, a country five times the size of Britain.
Conversely, the UK’s Chartered Society of Physiotherapists today published a study illustrating the physical and physiological impact of texting on teenagers and other groups. As well as a geographic and demographic breakdown of the texting habits of 177 people, the CSP goes on to suggest a five step programme for safe texting…
- Hold the phone up with the screen facing towards you so you are not having to flex your neck too much as you look down to view the screen.
- Keep your hands close to your body. The weight of a phone may not feel much, but the load on your arm is significantly increased if the arm is held out stretched and this action will put strain on your neck and shoulder muscles.
- Try to use both hands together when texting to “spread the load”. Keep messages short and use abbreviations and the predictive text messaging feature on your phone. This will help reduce the repetitive motion of pressing various keys.
- Don’t text continuously. Try to take breaks by putting the phone down between text messages.
- Carry out the following two exercises to prevent text message injury:
- Regularly open your fingers and stretch them out.
- Stretch your arm out, rotate your wrist so it is facing upwards and with your other hand pull your palm down towards the floor to feel a stretch over the front of your forearm muscles. Hold for 15 seconds and repeat 2-3 times.
Taken together, the MDA and CSP studies provide an invaluable insight into the textual habits of Brits.You can read the CSP’s study online, here…
