“It took me a few months to accept that I had given myself tendinosis in my phone thumb. It is a depressingly modern condition in which the tendons around the

“It took me a few months to accept that I had given myself tendinosis in my phone thumb. It is a depressingly modern condition in which the tendons around the thumb inflame as a result of repetitive strain — in my case because I had, for hours a day over years of a life, tapped that right-hand digit onto the glass of my smartphone. The condition sounds like the subject of a local television news trend story about teenagers whose thumbs seize up while they play video games. It was definitely not something I, a mature professional, should ever have. I began to call it my numb thumb.”