Injury+and+Radiation

[[image:kids.jpg width="527" height="382" align="right"]]Children and Physically Harmful Technology....
By: Brian Berrodin and Andrea Dillard

Children’s computer use at school is that they are forming bad ergonomic habits that will set them up for later workplace injuries. If computer technologies become ubiquitous across the curriculum from preschool on up— as the No Child Left Behind Act and current educational technology standards envision55—Hedge says that children are likely to suffer not just pain but actual injury unless action is taken to prevent it (Alliances for Childhood 26).

Ergonomic experts Alan Hedge of Cornell University and Karen Jacobs of Boston University cite the Risk of repetitive stress injuries to children and adolescents from poor posture and long sessions staring at screens; punching keys on computers, laptops, handhelds, and cell phones; or hitting the “fire” button repeatedly on video games (Alliances for Childhood 26).

This resluts in about 40 percent of middle-school students reporting musculoskeletal pain related to using computers (Alliances for Childhood 26).

Laptops are more of a problem ergonomically, he adds, because the screen and keyboard are attached. That makes it difficult to have each in a healthy position. Laptops also add more pounds to students’ already too-heavy backpacks, which are a growing health concern (Alliances for Childhood 26).

Jacobs strongly recommends that parents and teachers make sure students take physically active breaks from keyboards or video games every 20 minutes, that they learn to check their chairs and screen height each time, and adjust them if necessary, and that they be taught the proper position for typing to avoid strain (Alliances for Childhood 26).

Alliances for Chilhood (2004). //Tech Tonic: Towards a New Literacy of Technology//. College Park, Maryland. Alliance for Childhood.