Four Device-Specific Injuries People Can’t Stop Getting

From carpal tunnel to tech neck, advances in technology tend to be unkind to our stupid, inefficient meat sacks. Those problems are usually widespread among every model of laptop or smartphone on the market, however. But sometimes, specific devices keep hurting people in the same bizarre ways. Such as…

4 Apple Vision Pro: Burst Blood Vessels and Black Eyes

Since its release in early 2024, customers have been returning the Apple Vision Pro virtual reality headset in droves because it beat them up like the nerds they are. Seriously: One user reported “superdark black eyes” from the weight of the device on their face. Others have described eye strain due to the device’s eye tracking to the point of burst blood vessels along with the usual migraines and motion sickness common with virtual reality headsets. We’re just gonna have to stick with the real world for now.

3 Wiiitis: Virtual Sports Injuries

Remember the late aughts, when Wii Sports allowed the indoorsy to jock it up and everyone got really into tennis and boxing (but only, like, “tennis” and “boxing”)? Well, just because they weren’t playing real sports didn’t mean they didn’t get real sports injuries. In 2007, doctors began identifying Wii-specific injuries caused by hours of playing fake sports. Fortunately, the treatment protocol was “take an Advil and toughen up.”

2 PlayStation Rash: You Get It

It’s unclear what it is about the PlayStation controller specifically that’s such a dick to skin, but in 2009, doctors in Switzerland identified a skin condition they named PlayStation palmar hidradenitis, aka PlayStation rash. It’s characterized by painful red sores that develop on the parts of hands that come in contact with the controller after hours of sweaty gripping, which are otherwise usually only seen “on the soles of children’s feet after they have engaged in intense physical activity.” So it’s a disease that inherently shames you.

1 The Selfie Stick of Death

It’s likely no coincidence that selfie-related injuries and deaths exploded following the introduction of the selfie stick in 2014. That could be because you naturally lean back when you extend your photographic artificial limb, potentially throwing you off balance and into any nearby abysses, but in one case, a selfie stick acted as a lightning rod to electrocute a young English hiker. Just about every tourist destination worth visiting has subsequently banned selfie sticks, although to be fair, that’s mostly because they’re annoying.

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