Ergonomics are important. Posture is important. The “text neck” is probably going to affect more people overall, but for people like software engineers who are

Ergonomics are important. Posture is important. The “text neck” is probably going to affect more people overall, but for people like software engineers who are sitting at a desk all day, you also need to mind your shoulders. If the muscles that control your shoulders (there are many) become tight in the position where you’re hunched forward, you can expect symptoms in your hands similar to carpal tunnel syndrome, which has become the “poster disease” for software engineers, even though there aren’t any studies out there that support the notion that CTS is caused by keyboard + mouse use. Rather, the holding of vibrating tools has been implicated scientifically as the cause of CTS. Genetics are also a big factor- women tend to have smaller wrists than men and so are more often afflicted with CTS. Perhaps the most interesting fact of all though, is that CTS is easily fixed with a low-risk, non-invasive, endoscopic surgery… so it’s ironic that CTS is implicated AND revered so often.