Guide · Head down
Head down at your screen: the tech-neck habit
Looking down at a laptop all day is the habit people call “tech neck”. You feel it as a tight neck and upper back long before you think about why.
By Shyam Verma · Updated
Where you feel it
What it does to your body.
Neck
The further your head tips forward, the harder the muscles at the back of your neck work to hold it.
Upper back
It rounds to follow your head down, and stiffens there.
Shoulders
They roll forward and tighten across the top.
Why it happens
The moments that set it off.
- A laptop flat on the desk
- Notes or a phone beside the keyboard
- Reading glasses
- Looking down to type
Tips and tricks
Break the habit.
The screen comes up, your head follows
Raise the screen
Put the top line of the screen at or slightly below eye level, as OSHA advises.
Screen up, hands stay low
Stand plus keyboard
On a laptop, a stand and a separate keyboard bring the screen up without raising your hands.
Head level, eyes drop
Move your eyes, not your head
Glance down with your eyes and keep your head level.
The arm lifts, the neck stays long
Phone up to your eyes
Hold your phone higher instead of bending down to it.
Watch
Two short videos.
Videos by other organisations, on YouTube. Nothing from YouTube loads on this page until you open one.
How Poxture notices it
A nudge while it’s happening.
Poxture learns your normal head angle for each screen. A glance at the keyboard never counts. When your head stays 25° past your normal for three checks in a row by default, it nudges you. ISO 11226, the standard for static working postures, counts a forward head bend of up to about 25° as the comfortable range.
- ISO 11226:2000, Ergonomics: Evaluation of static working postures.
- OSHA, Computer Workstations eTool: Monitors (top line at or below eye level).