Abstract
The use of handheld mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) is common among the general population. It is acknowledged that the use of handheld mobile devices exposes users to the recognized ergonomic risk factors of duration, repetition, and awkward and static postures; however, the nature of this exposure is currently poorly defined. This cross-sectional survey collected information about the use of smartphones and tablets concerning: type of devices, duration of use, duration of work-related tasks, environmental settings, hand-grip and tablet position, and musculoskeletal discomfort. Three hundred and ninety-eight (398) university employees and research students responded to the survey. The survey results highlighted that the use of smartphones differs from the use of tablets, with differences noted for postures adopted, duration of use, location of use, tasks undertaken, environmental settings, and hand-grip and tablet position. The results emphasized the potential ergonomic risks that workers are exposed to during the use of smartphones and tablets especially in relation to posture, duration, and environmental settings.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Balakrishnan R, Chinnavan E, Feii T (2016) An extensive usage of hand held devices will lead to musculoskeletal disorder of upper extremity among student in AMU: a survey method. Int J Phys Educ Sport Health 3:368–372
Berolo S, Wells RP, Amick BC (2011) Musculoskeletal symptoms among mobile hand-held device users and their relationship to device use: a preliminary study in a Canadian university population. Appl. Ergon. 42:371–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2010.08.010
Blair B, Gama M, Toberman M (2015) Prevalence and risk factors for neck and shoulder musculoskeletal symptoms in users of touch-screen tablet computers. University of Nevada
Chiang HY, Liu CH (2016) Exploration of the associations of touch-screen tablet computer usage and musculoskeletal discomfort. Work 53:917–925. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-162274
Cornell University Ergonomics Web (2017) Musculoskeletal discomfort questionnaires [WWW Document]. http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ahmsquest.html. Accessed 21 Aug 2017
Eapen C, Kumar B, Bhat AK (2010) Prevalence of cumulative trauma disorders in cell phone users. J Musculoskelet Res 13:137–145. https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218957710002545
Goldfinch S, Gauld R, Baldwin N (2011) Information and communications technology use, e-government, pain and stress amongst public servants. New Technol Work Employ 26:39–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2010.00256.x
Hedge A, Morimoto S, McCrobie D (1999) Effects of keyboard tray geometry on upper body posture and comfort. Ergonomics 42:1333–1349. https://doi.org/10.1080/001401399184983
Hegazy A, Alkhail B, Awadalla N, Qadi M, Al-Ahmadi J (2016) Mobile phone use and risk of adverse health impacts among medical students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Br J Med Med Res 15:1–11. https://doi.org/10.9734/BJMMR/2016/24339
Honan M (2015) Mobile work: ergonomics in a rapidly changing work environment. Work 52:289–301. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-152164
Kim H-J, Kim J-S (2015) The relationship between smartphone use and subjective musculoskeletal symptoms and university students. J Phys Ther Sci 27:575–579. https://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.27.575
Lanaj K, Johnson RE, Barnes CM (2014) Beginning the workday yet already depleted? Consequences of late-night smartphone use and sleep. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 124:11–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2014.01.001
Lemola S, Perkinson-Gloor N, Brand S, Dewald-Kaufmann JF, Grob A (2014) Adolescents’ electronic media use at night, sleep disturbance, and depressive symptoms in the smartphone age. J Youth Adolesc 44:405–418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0176-x
Müller H, Gove JL, Webb JS, Cheang A (2015) Understanding and comparing smartphone and tablet use. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Australian Special Interest Group for Computer Human Interaction on – OzCHI 2015. ACM Press, New York, pp 427–436. https://doi.org/10.1145/2838739.2838748
Sarwar M, Soomro TR (2013) Impact of smartphone’s on society. Eur J Sci Res 98:216–226
Shan Z, Deng G, Li J, Li Y, Zhang Y, Zhao Q (2013) Correlational analysis of neck/shoulder pain and low back pain with the use of digital products, physical activity and psychological status among adolescents in Shanghai. PLoS One 8:e78109. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078109
Stalin P, Abraham SB, Kanimozhy K, Prasad RV, Singh Z, Purty AJ (2016) Mobile phone usage and its health effects among adults in a semi-urban area of Southern India. J Clin Diagn Res 10:LC14-LC16. https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2016/16576.7074
Stawarz K, Cox AL, Bird J, Benedyk R (2013) I’d sit at home and do work emails: how tablets affect the work-life balance of office workers. In: CHI 2013 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems on - CHI EA 2013. ACM Press, New York, p 1383. https://doi.org/10.1145/2468356.2468603
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Alzhrani, A., Cook, M., Johnstone, K., Cooper, J. (2019). Handheld Mobile Devices—How Do We Use Them at Work? A University Case Study. In: Bagnara, S., Tartaglia, R., Albolino, S., Alexander, T., Fujita, Y. (eds) Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 820. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96083-8_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96083-8_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96082-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96083-8
eBook Packages: Intelligent Technologies and RoboticsIntelligent Technologies and Robotics (R0)