God gave Noah the rainbow sign.

Won’t be rain, but fire next time.

--Negro Spiritual

There is a fascinating book on societal evolution called The Axemaker’s Gift. Authors James Burke and Robert Ornstein trace the history of innovation from pre-historic times to now using the analogy of the axe.

After the Garden of Eden debacle pre-historic man and woman existed in the hunter-gather stage for eons. As generic man got smarter he began to use tools. One of the first tools to be developed was the axe. Now it doesn’t take much of an imaginative stretch to realize that one can open a nut or a shell with a good smack or two with a rock. As things evolved our ancestors figured out that a sharp rock worked better than a dull one and a sharp rock attached to a stick worked better still.

The big thing the axe did was allow for the cutting of more wood to be used for fires which allowed the tribes to venture into more northern climes. The sharper axe could also build better shelters and made for a better hunting tool which in turn led to more food, healthier individuals, families and tribes and a wider territorial expansion. Quite a number of positives.

Chronologically Burke and Ornstein marched through innovation after innovation from the axe to movable type to the assembly line. But one thing that was repeatedly pointed out was that despite the positives the innovations created there was always an unexpected downside, that wasn’t so positive. 

Think about it, the axe could cut wood more efficiently but if your neighbor Ug was giving you a hard time, instead of throwing dirt or a stick at him all you had to do was give him a boink on the head and everyone’s problems were solved – at least until the Hatfield and McCoy’s came along. 

The new “axe” that we are blessed with is the cell phone. The 2020 version of cell phones are a technological marvel. Our cell phones, affectionally, our “cells,” have revolutionized communication, social interaction, personal entertainment, photography, recreation and even language. WTF? I say, “What’s that for?” almost every time I open the darn thing.

Anyone on the north side of 50 must remember Dick Tracy and his wristwatch phone. That was such a stretch during our childhoods compared to the black rotary dial phones of the day that the reality was unbelievable. Armed with such superior communication Tracy’s villains Cy Chotic, the Brow, Mumbles and The Mole never had a chance. LOL.

I recently spoke at a community college and as I walked down the hallway between classes quietly stationed against the walls, transfixed and collectively hunched over their phones were about 20 students silently texting away. One lone soldier stood silently by himself, hands at his sides, quiet and withdrawn. “No cell phone?” I asked. He told me he forgot it in his car. I saw his hands shaking as he shrugged. Cold turkey.

While our cells allow us to connect and stay connected in countless ways the downsides of cell phones seem to be conveniently ignored. Who would have thought a cell phone could be a traffic hazard? In fact, cell phone distracted driving accidents are catching drunk driving as a daily road menace. Where is Dick Tracy when you need him?

Somewhere along the way we all got taught about forward head carriage or upper cervical syndrome and before that there was our mother’s admonition to “Stand up straight!” By the time we finished chiro school postural considerations were second nature. 

Consider this, the current crop of 20 year-olds have come of age with cell phones, they don’t know anything different. For them cells have evolved from a toy to a babysitter to the status symbol of being a “big boy/big girl” to social angst to a necessity and finally an addiction. But I fear the worst is yet to come. 

The timeline for long-term consequences for an untreated motor vehicle crash is usually 15-20 years down the road. We see this all the time in our offices…

“Motor vehicle crash? Yeah, but that was a long time ago.”

“Like 15-20 years?” asked the doctor.

“Yeah, how did you know?”

Magic.

We have a generation entering adulthood that has been in the hunched over, with stooped shoulders and forward head carriage that started soon after they could walk. Fifteen to twenty years? How about forever.

But thinking like an axemaker we must realize that even calamities can present opportunities for growth and development. And truth be told posture is one of a chiro’s “things.” Reviewing good posture can save and serve patient after patient. Even a larger group presentation can be a public service. Time to bring back the plumb line. Wait, wait… you’re telling me there’s an app on my cell phone for that too?

Repeating and repeating the message of an hourly self-review of good posture, shoulders back, head and chin up can work to plant the seeds that there is another way, a correct way to stand and move. It makes common sense, but then I am reminded that in America, common sense is not so common and is a marketable quality. 

Be that as it may the alternatives and the consequences are going to be a future loaded with neck problems, early arthritic changes, accelerated arm and shoulder complaints and generally a sad state of affairs that will rival the obesity epidemic. 

CNN news analysist Fareed Zakaria has made the statement that a single cell phone of today has more technological power than Mission Control had when they sent Apollo 13 to the moon. Is the cell phone good, bad or just evolution? I don’t know if there is an app to answer that question… yet, but if you look at the cell through the eyes of a caveman or woman I think they’d say it all depends on how you swing the “axe.” 

Russ Ebbets DC

Dr. Russ Ebbets, DC is the editor of Track Coach, the technical journal for USA Track and Field. His most recent book, A Runner’s Guide is a wide ranging collection of essays that address training and competition, growth and development and health related issues all runners face.  A Runner’s Guide is available from Amazon.com. He maintains a private practice in Union Springs, NY.