Love this bit of research. It appeared in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine and was reported by the BBC. It’s proper research too…not like the flimsy stuff we push out on a daily basis. It took 13 years to complete! Imagine selling that to a client?

Anyway, the research tells us over that time, home computer-related injuries have increased 732%. My first thought, of course, was that home computer ownership would have probably increased by a similar amount during the same time period, which would make the statistic less startling, but no! Ownership only grew at half that rate.

Then I thought, I wonder what constitutes a home computer-related injury? The obvious stuff would be RSI (i.e. wrist injuries caused by online porn continual use of mouse and keyboard), old people tripping over loose cables and monitors falling on babies. My father-in-law put his back out searching for a USB slot in the back of his PC.

But I booked a skiing holiday online last year and then hurt my knee. Does that count? And my mother found a recipe on the internet and cooked a meal that made me sick for days. So much of our daily activity is now defined by stuff on our computers that injuries related to it are bound to go up.

The same probably holds true for mobile phones. Back in the day, all you had to contend with the likelihood of crashing your car while flirting with a colleague back in the office and the slim chance of a radiation-induced brain tumour. Nowadays you’ll be listening to music, playing a game and searching for bus timetables, just as the one you want runs you over.

The lead researcher of the US study neatly set up her next 13 years’ work by saying: “”Future research on acute computer-related injuries is needed as this ubiquitous product becomes more intertwined in our everyday lives.” (And, presumably, our legs.)

A spokesman from Rospa said: “Whenever a piece of equipment or activity such as home-computing becomes more popular, the number of people being injured in related accidents does tend to increase.”

Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents? Royal Society for Stating the Bleeding Obvious more like.