The rise of mobile phones has been blamed for a number of social ills, but your smart phone may also be making you physically sick as well.
移动电话的广泛使用被指引发了诸多社会弊端,不仅如此,手中的智能机也会让你觉得身体不适。
Scientists have identified a condition called 'cybersickness', which they say is the digital version of motion sickness.
科学家们把这种状态称为“晕屏”,是晕车的电子版。
The phenomenon, which affects up to 80 per cent of the population who own smartphones or tablets, leads to feelings of nausea and unsteadiness.
80%的手机和平板用户会晕屏,他们会有恶心、眩晕的感觉。
It is caused by seeing fast motion on a screen and covers anything from a car chase in a film to scrolling through web pages on your phone.
造成晕屏的原因是浏览了含移动内容的屏幕,可能是看了有追车镜头的电影,也可能是浏览了手机上滚动的内容页。
The more realistic the visual content is, the higher your chances of getting cybersickness.
视觉内容越真实,晕屏的发生率就越高。
The condition was identified in a piece in the New York Times in which British and US experts said that it needed addressing.
《纽约时报》的一篇文章报道了这种症状。英美专家在文章中称,这个问题需要着手解决。
Cyriel Diels, a cognitive psychologist and human factors researcher at Coventry University's centre for Mobility and Transport, said: 'It's a fundamental problem that's kind of been swept under the carpet in the tech industry.
认知心理学家、考文垂大学移动运输中心的人为因素研究员西里尔·蒂尔斯表示:“对弊端置之不理算得上是科技产业一个最根本的问题了。”
'It's a natural response to an unnatural environment.'
“这是对非自然环境作出的自然反应。”
Motion sickness leaves sufferers feeling ill because they feel movement in your muscles and your inner ear but do not see it.
晕动症会令患者感到肌肉和内耳在移动,但实际上并没有看到它们在移动。
The mismatch in digital sickness is the opposite - you see movement on the screen but do not feel it.
而晕屏症恰恰相反——你看到屏幕在移动,实际上却感受不到。
The effect is the same and the symptoms include a headache, wanting to throw up, confusion and the need to sit down.
二者的影响却是相同的,其症状为头疼、想吐、思绪混乱,需要静坐下来。
Often cybersickness manifests itself in a subtle way and sufferers put it down to stress or eyestrain.
晕屏症状通常不易察觉,患者会以为是因为压力大或者视觉疲劳引起的。
Steven Rauch, a professor of otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School, said: 'Your sense of balance is different than other senses in that it has lots of inputs.
哈佛医学院耳鼻喉科教授史蒂芬·劳奇表示:“与其他感官不同,当有大量信息输入时,人的平衡感会发生改变。”
'When those inputs don't agree, that's when you feel dizziness and nausea.'
“当这些信息输入没有被感官接受,你就会觉得头晕、恶心。”
Some studies that have been carried out into cybersickness found that women are more susceptible than men, the New York Times reported.
《纽约时报》称,一些有关晕屏的研究发现,女性比男性更容易晕屏。
Those who have'Type A' personalities - meaning they are confident and assertive - are more likely to suffer from cybersickness as well.
“A型”人格,即果断自信的人,也更容易晕屏。
Among those who have reported experiencing the condition have been video gamers who spend hours playing fast paced games.
有晕屏症状的通常是连续几小时玩快节奏视频游戏的玩家。
Cinema-goers have struggled with some scenes in action movies which have quick cuts and fast editing - and virtual reality has made the problem even worse.
看动作片的观众在看到快速剪辑和切换的镜头时会不舒服,这是因为虚拟实境会加重晕屏。
Jonathan Weinstein, a professor at the Kanbar Institute for Film and Television at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, said: 'The idea is to get audiences to feel like participants in the action rather than outside observers of the action.
纽约大学提斯克艺术学院康贝尔影视研究所的教授乔纳森·温斯坦说:“动作片就是想让观众身临其境,而不是当一个局外人。”
Engineers at Oculus VR, the virtual headset manufacturer, have admitted that digital motion sickness is one of their biggest problems.
虚拟实境游戏头盔制造商“欧酷拉”公司的工程师们坦言,晕屏也是他们面临的最大问题之一。