Smartphone 'phubbing' can be a real pain in the neck

A good Lunar New Year's resolution might be to stop checking your smartphone all the time, as the habit can lead to irreversible health consequences.

"Phubbing", which means snubbing others by looking at your phone, is harmful not only to your family and social life, but also to your neck.

A neurosurgeon has warned that frequent head-tilting, in which the neck bends by 60 degrees, can exert six times more pressure on the cervical vertebrae than is normal.

The cervical vertebrae consist of seven bones linking the head and shoulder.

Cervical degeneration, which usually occurs in people older than 40 due to prolonged stress on the neck, has become more common among young people with the spread of phubbing, according to Dr Harold Cheng Kin-ming, who is a specialist in neurosurgery.

Cheng said the cervical vertebrae of many young people under 30 were showing signs of stress normally seen in someone in their 40s.

Cheng said he has been seeing more young patients with cervical problems in the past five years. Now, more than one-fifth of his patients with such issues are under 35. In the past, he said the figure was about 10 per cent.