by Cristina Marrone
Excessive use of smartphones and computers can affect the psychophysical characteristics of humans. An American company has developed Mindy, a 3D prototype for predicting human evolution
Hunchbacked, low, with small brains, haunted eyes and claw-like hands: this is how we will be in a thousand years, deformed by technology. This is how we imagine a study commissioned by an American company, TollFreeForwarding, that produced the man of the future: Mindy, who by today’s standards is anything but attractive.
The Impact of Technology
Technology has fundamentally changed our lives: it has increased productivity, it has allowed us to learn new skills, it has at least made us more connected virtually, but at the same time it affects our health since it constantly communicates through the screen one Computer, a smartphone, a tablet has an impact on posture, on repetitive gestures, on our psychophysical state and in the long run, as always in the evolution of species, there will be consequences and man will become different from what he is today.
It’s clearly unlikely that humans would mimic Mindy’s surprising appearance, as the anatomical changes are mostly exaggerated in a very short space of time. However, the prototype wants to show, albeit provocatively, where technology is taking us, for this reason a balance should be sought from today and it is worth taking a look at where we risk ending up. It must be said that this is not the first work attempting to predict what human evolution will be like. It has been spoken of by cyber-men with huge eyes or beings with larger brains and smaller sex organs.
The hump
The hump is one of the elements that most catches the eye and due to the many hours we spend looking at screens, whether they are PCs or smartphones, the problem is already known today. The back gradually loses its S-line to approach a C-curve or hump, with the head further forward than the pelvic axis, precisely because of this tendency to hunch over electronic devices. Hours of staring at the phone puts strain on your neck and throws your spine off balance. As a result, the neck muscles have to make an extra effort to support the head, said Caleb Backe, a health and wellness expert interviewed by TollFreeForwarding. Curved shoulders are a reality today, so it’s not surprising that a thousand years from now, the hump will be an anatomical aspect that’s an adaptation in favor of digital use.
The neck
Technology can also affect the neck, which becomes shorter and wider than normal to respond to technological demands. Mindy has what it says: technological neck because looking down from the other side to constantly check your smartphone aches the neck muscles and forces you to strain to keep your head straight.
The clawed hand
Another imaginary and rather disturbing deformity that describes the position our hand adopts to hold the cell phone on a daily basis. dr Med Alert Help’s Nikola Djordjevic explains that it’s a condition known as ‘cubital tunnel syndrome’ which, along with the 90 degree elbow, can be triggered precisely by heavy cell phone use. This syndrome is caused by pressure or stretching of the ulnar nerve, which goes into a groove on the inside of the elbow. It causes numbness or tingling in the ring and pinky fingers, pain in the forearm, and weakness in the hands. If you keep your elbow bent for a long time, holding the phone can stretch the nerve behind your elbow and put pressure on it, Dr. Djordjevic. So the human of the future could also have stable elbows, due to the position our limbs take when we hold a phone to make a call or surf the Internet.
Smaller Brain
Technology could also change the size of our brains, which could get smaller because the technologies available no longer require memory work or special intellectual effort because there are computers that think of everyone. Finally, I know that your brain can atrophy over the years if you don’t exercise it. Scientific studies have shown how the human brain shrank from 1.9 to 10,000 years ago thanks to technological advances in agriculture and health: Today we have to do much less to survive. Will evolution continue in this sense? The 2006 film Idiocracy, in which a man wakes up 500 years in the future and discovers he is the smartest man alive, is emblematic.
The third eyelid
Mindy’s latest change is perhaps her most extravagant. Research on screens causing headaches and eye strain is well known. To limit the eye problems caused by exposure to light from electronic devices on the eyes, Mindy will be able to develop the third, inner eyelid. People can evolve a larger inner eyelid to prevent exposure to excessive light, or the eye lens can evolve to block incoming blue light but not other high-wavelength light such as green, yellow, or red , said Kasun Ratnayake of the University of Toledo in the toll-free relay.
It’s clearly unlikely that humans will mimic Mindy’s surprising appearance, as the anatomical changes are exaggerated. However, the prototype represents the scientific underpinning of where technology can take us, so a balance should be sought starting today.
November 7, 2022 (Change November 7, 2022 | 09:07)
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