On Posture III: Tech Neck

Tech neck, also known as cervical kyphosis, is the forward lean of the head, usually caused by excessive tech use. Symptoms of tech neck include (as you’d expect) neck pain and headaches, but it could also be negatively affecting our state of mind.

As we’ve seen in parts 1 and 2, the state of the body can affect the state of mind (and vice versa). Disequilibrium in one means dysfunction in the other. In the case of tech neck, the body is subordinated to the mind, to the extent that the head literally gets heavier the more we lean in towards our screens. A 60 degree neck tilt creates 27 kilos of pressure (as opposed to 5 kilos at a neutral neck position).

This posture used to be known as ‘nerd neck’ as it was associated with excessive reading. In both cases — tech neck and nerd neck — there is a privileging of the brain (in pursuit of dopaminergic pleasure) over the body. The head is literally given more weight — a sign of society’s infatuation with the intellect. (Even a body conscious Instagram model pours over his/ her phone for screen-mediated — and thus abstract — approval).

Unfortunately, our bodies cannot keep up with the exponential shifts in technology, and it interprets…