http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=585&u=/nm/20020323/sc_nm/hea
lth_thumbs_dc_1
Thumbs Are the New Fingers for GameBoy Youth
Sat Mar 23, 5:32 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - The use of gadgets such as mobile phones and GameBoys has
caused a physical mutation in young people's hands, according to a British
Sunday newspaper.
New research carried out in nine cities around the world shows that the
thumbs of people under the age of 25 have taken over as the hand's most
dexterous digit, said The Observer.
The change affects those who have grown up with hand-held devices where the
thumbs are used for keying in text messages and emails.
"The relationship between technology and the users of technology is mutual.
We are changing each other," said Dr. Sadie Plant of Warwick University's
Cybernetic Culture Research Unit.
"Discovering that the younger generation has taken to using thumbs in a
completely different way and are instinctively using thumbs where the rest
of us are using our index fingers is particularly interesting."
In her research, Plant noticed that while those less used to mobile phones
used one or several fingers to access the keypad, younger people used both
thumbs ambidextrously, barely looking at the keys as they made rapid
entries.
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Received on Sun Mar 24 10:08:22 2002