The next time you're out in public, I want you to take a nice long look around. Look at cliques congregating at the food court, at the coffee addicts waiting around Starbucks, look at the families in the park or grocery store or restaurant. You're bound to see the tops of a lot of heads as people look down — or worse, completely hunch over — their smartphones and tablets.
Whether you're 6 or 65, chances are you're holding the phone down near your lap when sitting and maybe elbow-high when standing, peeking down at your phone while you walk around and answer text messages. For thirty seconds, this poor posture isn't a crime.
Problem is, this is a bad habit that's accumulating over time, and after a decade of smartphone use, it's starting to strain our spines in ways that are totally preventable.
I'm just as much in need of this lecture as anyone, especially now that I hunch over my lap-sitting Chromebook most afternoons and evenings, but it's at Disney World where I've been exposed to just how widespread this stooping strain is spreading. Theme parks are great for people watching, and I've been watching people hunch over their phones for hours on end while standing in line, relaxing in the shade, or just sitting near the castle waiting for fireworks, whole families in head-down huddles around their phones and toddlers tapping frantically at tablets in their stroller trays.
For years, we've rolled our eyes at "text neck" and "pinky-propping", but like your mother nagging you to eat your greens before dessert so that you get your proper nutrients, taking care of your spine is something that can seem evil at first but can quickly change from a bad habit to a good one if you do it properly.
While there's an easy answer to RSI-inducing pinky propping — a $10 phone grip — the power is inside you to fix your posture, but it goes a little beyond "just sit up straight, you idiot."
Situational awareness
There's one place where most people already have the proper smartphone posture: the bathroom. While tweeting on the toilet is a joke to the masses, it's the one place we tend to keep our arms up and our phones eye-level while we try to will that bowl of chili beans to release our intestines from their gassy grip, if only because we want to try and keep our phones away from any of the filthy surfaces surrounding us.
That said, when sitting at a table or desk, prop an elbow on the tabletop and get your phone face-high instead of laying it on the table and hunching over it. Another good trick to remember when sitting at a table is to hold the phone further away from you, because the further away the phone is, the less of an angle it'll be to look down at it.
This gets trickier when using your phone while sitting on a bench or couch, but avoid setting the phone on your lap, even if all you're doing is watching YouTube videos.
Reminders are key
Like all bad habits, you're not going to break it overnight. Trust me, I've tried. Instead, make yourself a little reminder, be it a note in Google Keep or a Google Assistant nag or a vertically-focused wallpaper like this gorge-ous lightplay wallpaper from reddit. Gentle, consistent reminders can help make the transition more natural and help it stick, because it's easy to start slumping and slouching again when you're exhausted and scatterbrained after walking 7 miles in the Florida heat.
My shoulder holster also helps remind me to sit up straight because the straps tend to slide around my shoulders when I slouch. Not everyone can rock the Tomb Raider, but slip a bracelet or rubber band on your wrist, anything that you can see and associate with the habit you're trying to establish.
Accessorize if you need to
If you're biggest problems are hunching over a phone or tablet while sitting around at home, invest in a stand that you can elevate as needed.
PhoneProp Silicone Smartphone Stand ($9 at Amazon)
I've used one of these my Android Central video conferences for four years. The center gap is enough to get a flexible charging cable in so you can recharge while you video chat until 3 a.m.
Plinrise DinosaurDesk Phone Stand ($9 at Amazon)
Available in almost 20 color styles — as well as a zoo of creature shapes — this prehistoric phone stand will help you avoid hunching over your screen in the office, kitchen, or anywhere else.
iKross 2-in-1 Tablet Mount Stand ($30 at Amazon)
This multi-tasking stand comes with two wall brackets, allowing you to mount your tablet in the kitchen for recipe notes and slide the mount itself out to use at your desk or nightstand for a few quick episodes before bed.
I have the PhoneProp and frequently stack it on brownie tins or popcorn tubs to elevate it for reading while I snack or eat a quick meal. It's also squishy enough that I can throw it in my gear bag for longer days at the park so I can prop my phone up while sitting at a restaurant or when I'm proping my phone against a wall ledge for a wider selfie.
Encourage your friends and family to get in on the act
Kids learn from their parents, and while many of the millennial generation have already figured out the posture and positioning to keep their 8 hours of Snapping and redditing from hurting their necks, positive reinforcement and having someone to do it with helps make any chore better. Have a phone jar: anyone in the house that gets caught hunching over theirs sticks in a quarter — or their phone for a quarter of an hour.
However you go about it, this is a habit 100% worth breaking, as it's putting hundreds of hours of extra strain on your neck. Hold your phone — and your head — up high and keep it from becoming a pain in your neck. After all, the only pain in the neck your phone should give you is not having enough time to play with all the cool apps and games you have on it!
