Guide · Leaning in
Leaning in toward your screen
You start the day sitting back. By mid-afternoon your nose is a hand’s width from the screen, and your neck and shoulders feel it.
By Shyam Verma · Updated
Where you feel it
What it does to your body.
Neck
The back of your neck works all day to hold your head ahead of your shoulders.
Shoulders
They creep up and forward with your head and stay tight.
Eyes
A screen too close keeps your eyes focusing hard for hours.
Why it happens
The moments that set it off.
- Small text
- A deadline and deep focus
- A screen pushed too far back
- A chair without back support
Tips and tricks
Break the habit.
Sit back to arm’s length
Arm’s length
Sit back until the screen is about arm’s length away. OSHA puts the preferred distance at 20 to 40 inches (50 to 100 cm).
Bigger text, and you sit back
Bigger text, not closer eyes
Press ⌘ + a few times. If you lean in to read, the text is too small.
Hips back, not shoulders back
Let the chair hold you
Slide your hips to the back of the seat so the backrest supports you.
Eyes far away, head still
Look far away
Every 20 minutes or so, look at something across the room for about 20 seconds.
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 how far you usually sit from each screen. When you are closer than 80% of that distance for three checks in a row by default, it nudges you.
- OSHA, Computer Workstations eTool: Monitors (viewing distance 20–40 in / 50–100 cm).
- HSS, Working from home: look 20 feet away for 20 seconds after every 20 minutes of screen time.