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As a 23-year-old stemming from a generation that just began to be touched by the digital revolution, I have already begun to see the effects computers and mobile devices have on my fingers. Being the fact that I am a journalist, this also adds to the amount of pressure that I put on my hands while repetitiously typing on a keyboard for eight hours straight each day.

The pains that I feel are known as muscular skeletal disorders (MSD), which affects your muscles, tendons and nerves, and most people begin suffering from at the latter part – yet I am at the beginning of my life, and I am already seeing symptoms of carpel tunnel syndrome. For instance, when I am not typing my hands remain stuck in a typing position unless I consciously spread my fingers apart. Or when I am not in the office at all and having a conversation with another person with , my hands rest on a tabletop and begin to curl.

The larger point that I am trying to make is that I didn’t have a smartphone or iPad when I was six-years-old since I was only prematurely a part of the digital age, and for those young children who were born during its climax, the effects they will feel on their body will come at a much younger age, and maybe even worse.

 It is vital that educational systems and organizations that employ users who sit at a computer all day begin implementing an informative ergonomic program on how computer and mobile users can protect their muscles, tendons and nerves. Since I am currently in a panicked state knowing that I will might be diagnosed with carpal tunnel at the age of 30-years-old, here are a few exercises from E-Hand.com that I can do in my office in order to put a halt to the effects of the keyboard and mouse:

Extend and stretch both wrists and fingers acutely as if they are in a hand-stand position. Hold for a count of five.  

Straighten both wrists and relax fingers.
 

Make a tight fist with both hands. 

Then bend both wrists down while keeping the fist. Hold for a count of 5. 



 Straighten both wrists and relax fingers, for a count of 5.  

The exercise should be repeated 10 times. Then let your arms hang loosely at the side and shake them for a few seconds. 

Employers can go even farther than this simple office exercise by purchasing ergonomic keyboards and mouse, along with a sit-to-stand workstation, which allows users to either stand or sit while working on a computer. Although people haven’t yet begun to see the effects of this digital age will have on our youth, as somebody who is already feeling the pains of MSD, there is an obvious disconnect between people and ergonomic awareness. In a world that is defined by smartphones and tablets, if children and adults don’t begin to protect their bodies now, they are putting their bodies at risk for MSD at frightening young ages.