If you spend most of your day staring at a screen — which, let's be honest, you probably do — there's a good chance your neck is quietly paying the price. It's called tech neck, and it's one of the most common (and most ignored) physical problems in modern office work.
The Golden Retriever on Your Neck
Bad posture is a classic struggle for those of us who work at desks all day.
Some call it "tech neck" and it's caused by constantly tilting your head forward to look at your phone or laptop. The problem isn't the technology itself but how we position our bodies around it.
"Research shows that the average head weighs 10–12 pounds, but tilting your neck forward just 30 degrees makes it feel like 40 pounds. At 60 degrees, it's 60 pounds—that's the average weight of a female Golden Retriever. Sure, your neck can handle a certain amount of downward gazing each day, but it was not designed to support a Golden Retriever for hours at a time."
Here are two easy fixes you can do right now:
🔵 Posture: Open your chest by pinching the muscles between your shoulder blades. Sit or stand tall and imagine a string gently pulling your head upward.
🔵 Device: Start holding your phone slightly higher than you're used to, so it's always at eye level. If you're working on a laptop, connect it to an external monitor and elevate it to avoid slouching.
The Research Behind the Numbers
The weight figures Lisa references come from a widely cited 2014 study by Dr. Kenneth Hansraj, chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine, published in Surgical Technology International. Using a computer model of the cervical spine, Hansraj calculated that at a neutral position the head exerts about 10–12 pounds of force — but at 15 degrees of forward tilt, that jumps to 27 pounds. At 45 degrees it's 49 pounds. And at 60 degrees — the typical texting posture — it hits 60 pounds.
Given that the average person spends two to four hours a day looking down at their phone, that's a significant cumulative load on the cervical spine. A 2025 review in the European Spine Journal now classifies tech neck as a growing concern, recommending ergonomic interventions, postural education, and regular stretching to counteract the effects.
A 60-Second Posture Reset for Office Managers
Share this with your team as a midday micro-break:
Chin tuck: Pull your chin straight back (like making a double chin). Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat 5 times.
Shoulder blade squeeze: Pinch your shoulder blades together and hold for 5 seconds. Repeat 5 times.
Phone check: Hold your phone at eye level right now. Notice the difference in your neck position.
Three moves, one minute, zero equipment. Done consistently, it's one of the simplest things you can do to fight tech neck at work.
