Stop what you're doing and look at your hand: Do you have smartphone pinky?
Updated | By Stacey and J Sbu
Seems like we have a pretty good reason to put down our phone.
![Smartphone pinky medical condition](https://turntable.kagiso.io/images/smartphone_pinky.width-800.jpg)
What are you reading this on right now?
Probably your phone, right?
Whether you're reading it on your phone or something else, listen up, because we're pretty sure you are probably using a phone daily.
While some medical conditions have truly wild names, most of them seem believable.
Except maybe a case of mad cow disease but that being said, it's not actually its official name (its real name is bovine spongiform encephalopathy).
But if you were to hear that you have been diagnosed with 'smartphone pinky', you might give your doctor a bit of a side-eye and be on the more skeptical side.
And we don't blame you.
As unbelievable as it sounds, and although it is not an official medical condition just yet, it is very real.
It was first brought to everyone's attention when a TikToker called @cllopez2000 posted the video below:
@cllopez2000 Kinda hard to see on camera, does anyone else have this? ##foryou ##fyp ##smartphonepinkie ##like ##share
♬ Smart Phone Pinky - cllopez2000
This video had everyone looking and really inspecting at their own hands for the first time in a long time and people started to notice something very strange.
Many users noticed that they too have the little bend or a tiny dent in their little fingers, now convinced that this has been caused by their cellphone usage.
While self-diagnosis is never the way to go, it does seem like it is a bit of a phenomenon.
justin really has a smartphone pinky hehe pic.twitter.com/aIEDObl015
— sandra; 🖤🔙 (@bizzlexmendussy) January 12, 2020
I HAVE THE SMARTPHONE PINKY REALLY BAD pic.twitter.com/r0vXJKlZyr
— Phoebe Rajput (@PhoebeRajput) July 2, 2016
let’s see ur smartphone pinky pic.twitter.com/qkADWMffVp
— lo🎃👻🦇🕸🐈⬛ (@violentbreedx) May 20, 2019
#IfCellphonesDidntExist I wouldn't have Texting Thumb, Smartphone Pinky & Text Neck. pic.twitter.com/qoSCmgjXSY
— Esther | 에스더 | إستر (@EstherNMNLim) September 14, 2017
While there is no clinical evidence yet to prove that smartphone pinky is legit, medical professionals have confirmed that there definitely are other conditions that can be linked to excessive cellphone usage.
Pharmacist Pareena Patel says that excessive phone use can impact your muscular function and can damage your joints, especially 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. Some research has also found that smartphone overuse can cause pain in the thumb, and can even decrease hand function.- Pareena Patel (Pharmacist)
At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter whether smartphone pinky is 100% real or not, you should probably spend a little less time on your phone anyway.
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Main image courtesy of @cllopez2000/TikTok
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