text neck
n. Neck and upper back pain caused by an excessive and prolonged forward head tilt, such as when texting or performing other mobile device tasks.
Also Seen As
Examples
2017
Lanman and Cuellar suggest simple lifestyle changes to relieve the stress from the 'text neck' posture. They recommend holding cell phones in front of the face, or near eye level, while texting. They also suggest using two hands and two thumbs to create a more symmetrical and comfortable position for the spine.
2016
What if I told you that a major problem that 99.99 percent of people face can't be fixed at the gym or the health food store. You can stop it by NOT leaning forward. That's right! Don't "lean in." As most people are constantly on social media, and mobile apps, there's an increase in "Text Neck."
—Dr. Rashad Sanford, “Essay: Could ‘Text Neck’ Be The New Arthritis,” NBC News, January 12, 2016
2015
Fishman coined the term "text neck" to describe the condition and founded the Text Neck Institute (text-neck.com), a place where people can go for information, prevention and treatment.
—Lily Dayton, “Teens' compulsive texting can cause neck injury, experts warn,” Los Angeles Times, April 03, 2015
2009 (earliest)
I know my niece texts way too much-she got "text neck"-for pete's sake!
—Carine Nadel, “I know my…,” Twitter, July 14, 2009
Notes
An indication of the prevalence of text neck is the sheer number of synonyms the ailment has generated, including tech neck, forward head posture (FHP), anterior head syndrome (AHS), and anterior head carriage (AHC), as well as the eye-rollingly sexist and ageist dowager's hump and granny hump.