Well just a short report of my trip to derby with the old bus pass before they are withdrawn ,vote UKIP so here we go and enjoy reading it .
I travelled into Derby on the bus today and had to smile as almost everyone that stood up to get off at the bus station instantly pulled out their phones and started to text. It could be a new medical condition: TDS (text dependency syndrome) – the need to text the wider world of our whereabouts.
There is, of course, an existing medical condition associated with texting and I overheard one passenger talking to her chum about it: “Me flaming thumb is getting worse and my doc says I ought to text less.” She pleaded to her friend, “Well, I mean to say, how can I text less?” She looked down at her sore thumb and rubbed it. She was referring to the dreaded ailment known originally as Blackberry Thumb.
Okay, here’s what the experts say: “BlackBerry [or Texter’s] thumb is a neologism that refers to a form of repetitive strain injury (RSI) caused by the frequent use of the thumbs to press buttons on PDAs, Smartphones or other mobile devices. The name of the condition comes from the BlackBerry, a brand of Smartphone that debuted in 1999, although there are numerous other similar eponymous conditions that exist such as ‘Wiiitis’, ‘Nintendinitis’, ‘Playstation thumb’, ‘cell phone thumb’, ‘Smartphone thumb’, ‘Android thumb’, and ‘iPhone thumb’.”
Given all these popular names there must be some technical terminology for it, a nice bit of Latin perhaps. And, of course, as you guessed there is. Okay, back to our experts: “The medical name for the condition is De Quervain Syndrome and is associated with the tendons connected to the thumb through the wrist. Causes for the condition extend beyond smartphones and gaming consoles to include activities like golf, racket sports, and lifting.”
Oh, I wonder if I can get a few sick-days off if I complain of De Quervain Syndrome. “Sorry Boss, but I can’t come in today because I’ve been over-doing the texting a bit and I gotta touch of the De Q’s!” I suppose I shouldn’t joke because symptoms of Texter’s thumb include “aching and throbbing pain in the thumb and wrist and in severe cases… temporary disability of the affected hand - particularly the ability to grip objects.” So, why is it that the thumb is affected in this way?
Well, one popular hypothesis is that old thumby doesn’t have the dexterity the other fingers have and is therefore, not well-suited to high speed touch typing. But a bit of old De Q isn’t going to stop us is it? It didn’t stop anyone on my bus today.
Now, I don’t know about you but I’d put the bloomin thing down or simply make a call if over-texting was causing me this much pain and grief. Although, help is now at hand (including thumbs) and there is a less stressful way (digitally speaking) of texting. Yup folks and this old fart has just discovered it: the joys of ‘swype-ing’. Swype Magic, what’s that? I’ll tell you – it’s an app that helps put away those De Q Blues. Swype is a faster way to enter text. With Swype, you create a word by Swyping through letters instead of tapping them out. Simples. Find out more at: http://www.swype.com/category/tips/
Me, I can’t wait until voice recognition finally pulls itself into the twenty-first century and cuts out the need to do anything with me thumbs…
Any way see you all at the next meet in April at York we have quiet a few coming any one else is welcome and note it does not cost £10 to attend .
Toodle pip Magic, Swype-ing merrily away
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