We all have an addiction to our phones and checking our texts, Twitters, Instagram, etc. What you don’t realize is that staring down at your phone puts as much pressure on your spine as it would to carry a sack of potatoes around your neck. In the article“Assessment of Stresses in the Cervical Spine Caused by Posture and Position of the Head” found on a CBS news site, Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine, writes that the average head weighs between 10 to 12 pounds when standing up right. When you bend your neck, as you would to check your phone, your head becomes heavier because of gravity. If you bend your head to 15 degrees it will weigh about 27 pounds. At 30 degrees, your head can weigh up to 40 pounds and at 60 degrees it will weigh approximately 60 pounds, that’s like carrying an eight year old on your head! This can cause damage to your neck and or spine. The solution is to straighten up your neck while texting or stop checking your phone every two seconds of the day. Hansraj concludes with, “While it is nearly impossible to avoid the technologies that cause these issues, individuals should make an effort to look at their phones with a neutral spine and to avoid spending hours each day hunched over.”