The effect on your spine each time you lower your head to send a text message is the equivalent of strapping a 60-pound weight to your neck.

That's according to research published by Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, who measured the effect on your neck when its titled forward at various angles.

“It is an epidemic or, at least, it’s very common,” Hansraj told The Washington Post  “Just look around you, everyone has their heads down.”

This epidemic amounts to people spending an average of two to four hours a day hunched over their phones, which means their spines have this stress for 700 to 1400 hours a year. A high school student, the study says, may spend an additional 5,000 hours wearing down their spine.

And that's not all the damage you're doing each time your scroll through Instagram. Recent research says that the blue light emitted from your screens is destroying your eyes and ruining your internal body chemistry by suppressing the production of melatonin. You're probably aware that lower melatonin levels can lead to insomnia. But it can also lead to diabetes, lupus, and some types of cancer.

Because they have only been around for a couple decades, there's no way to fully understand the long-term effects of these technologies. But, so far, there is some concerning data about the strain we're putting on our bodies when we adopt a lifestyle driven by using our devices.

To learn more about how you should be careful of your technology posture, watch this video: