Touch Screens and Computer Related Health Risks

Posted on January 22, 2010 | Category: Computer Trivia

The issues with touch screen laptop computers involve the hardware itself. Until recently the swivel screen has been a weak point due to the assortment of moving parts. However, the durability has greatly been improved and this is hardly the issue anymore. Another problem was the negative impact touch recognition systems had on the display quality. Brightness and resolution has long been compromised in touch screens but with new technology many new models offer such high quality displays that they are boasted as multimedia machines. Then there are the health concerns of extensive use of both traditional computers and touch screen laptops. This is related to the famous carpal tunnel syndrome from over use of the keyboard and mouse and as a result of spending many hours at a desk.

Common problems are not with touch screen laptops since these can be repositioned at any time to give the user more comfort and the input is not restricted to just the screen. But with standing positions such as an information kiosk or automated teller machines, extensive use can cause muscle cramps and exhaustion. The small muscles in our fingers are not used to being held in a flexed, pointing position for extended periods of time and many people would feel a soreness in their arms after keeping it raised for a long time.

There are many ailments associated with extensive computer usage that plague many office workers and anyone who makes their living in front of a computer. This problem arises because the way we interface with our computer requires unnatural movements. The introduction of touch screen technology is supposed to help alleviate some of these problems by offering an intuitive method of interacting with the computers. While this seems like the right solution in theory being that the tools, our fingers and a pen or stylus, used are the most intuitive ways we know to interact with our environment, in practice it is a little more complicated.

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