Easy way to tell if you’ve developed ‘phone pinky’ from spending too much time on your device

It's not exactly unreasonable to say that society as a whole is addicted to our smartphones.

The average person spends four hours and 37 minutes on their phone every day. That's the equivalent of more than one day per week, six days per month and a whopping 70 days per year swiping and tapping away.

And, it turns out we're so attached to our phones that people have starting noticing a strange side effect known rather appropriately as 'phone pinky.'

'Phone pinky' develops when you spend too much time on your phone (Klaus Vedfelt/Getty)

Phone pinky is a condition thought to be caused by the weight of your phone pressing against your pinky finger for extended periods of time i.e. that hour-long doomscroll through TikTok.

The two major symptoms of it are a large dent between the two knuckles of your pinky on whichever hand you hold your phone in and your pinky having a natural inwards curve when your hand is relaxed.

And it appears a lot of us are suffering from it.

When TikToker Callum Joyce spoke on his Bedtime Stories podcast about how holding his iPhone has changed the shape of his little finger earlier this year, he left people in shock as they noticed the recognisable dent on their own fingers.

One woman replied: "Not me staring at my pinky’s indent in horror."

But, while having a little bend in your pinky is unlikely to cause you too many problems other than making it look a bit wonky, some experts believe that it could be damaging to your hand in the long run.

Pharmacist, Pareena Patel, told The Sun that phone pinky is likely caused by the repetitive strain of constantly holding a device.

"Smartphone pinky is a social phenomenon thought to be caused by frequent smartphone use," she said. "This is where users have reported a dent on their pinky finger from holding their smartphone too much.

"While there is no clinical evidence yet to suggest that smartphones can damage our pinkies specifically, nor is this an official medical condition or term, there are reasons to believe excessive phone use can impact our muscular function and may damage our joints particularly in the thumb and wrist area.

"For example, we know that repetitive strain injury (RSI) is a common condition which affects the muscles and nerves if they are overused or subject to frequent repetitive movements."

Now, how many of you read this article with your phone rested on your little finger?

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