"Horns" on younger peoples heads.

I'm tpying this on a phone so this post will be disorganized.

Mobile technology has transformed the way we live - how we read, work, communicate, shop and date. But we already know this.

What we have not yet grasped is the way the tiny machines in front of us are remolding our skeletons, possibly altering not just the behaviors we exhibit but the bodies we inhabit.

New research in biomechanics suggests that young people are developing hornlike spikes at the back of their skulls - bone spurs caused by the forward tilt of the head, which shifts weight from the spine to the muscles at the back of the head, causing bone growth in the connecting tendons and ligaments. The weight transfer that causes the buildup can be compared to the way the skin thickens into a callus as a response to pressure or abrasion.

The result is a hook or hornlike feature jutting out from the skull, just above the neck.

In academic papers, a pair of researchers at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, argues that the prevalence of the bone growth in younger adults points to shifting body posture brought about by the use of modern technology. They say smartphones and other handheld devices are contorting the human form, requiring users to bend their heads forward to make sense of what's happening on the miniature screens.

The researchers said their discovery marks the first documentation of a physiological or skeletal adaptation to the penetration of advanced technology into everyday life.

Health experts warn of "text neck," and doctors have begun treating "texting thumb," which is not a clearly defined condition but bears resemblance to carpal tunnel syndrome. But prior research has not linked phone use to bone-deep changes in the body.

Since then, the unusual formations have captured the attention of Australian media, and have variously been dubbed "head horns," "phone bones," "spikes" or "weird bumps."

They found instead that the bone spurs were larger and more common among young people. To understand what was driving the effect, they looked to recent developments - circumstances over the last 10 or 20 years altering how young people hold their bodies.

"These formations take a long time to develop, so that means that those individuals who suffer from them probably have been stressing that area since early childhood," Shahar explained.

As motivation, he suggested reaching a hand around to the lower rear of the skull. Those who have the hornlike feature likely can feel it.

End story

I do this a lot. I think I can feel a my "Horn" inside my head but I remember having that bumpy part a long time ago. ?

Is this going to be humanity's future? "Horns" coming out of people's back skull?

I read this article a few hours ago. Immediately what I thought was how stupid it is that they're referring to this as a "horn", almost as if they chose that term to drum up conversation from people who think cellphones are the devil lol.

TL; DR, the article basically said that by looking down at handheld electronics more, our skulls are actually evolving to protrude back further to aid our neck muscles or somesuch.

When I first stumble into this thread, my first reaction was. Mobile devices are our "Conscience" and how Mobile control are actions from good to bad and bad to good decisions.

Okay... So if this is true, why blame phones? Our bodies have been in the same position while reading books for centuries prior.

And evolution takes way longer than 20 years to start showing signs.

@Zuon: Maybe evolution wasn't the right word for me to use. They compared it to like calluses, the way the body reacts to prolonged use in a certain way to toughen up in areas.

You make a good point, though. And I mean, a lot of people with depression are often looking down to avoid others anyway.

It's why I hate how all of these research study articles come out and become big news. We don't know things for sure, but we promote it to become the popular assumption, until it's disproved a few years later.