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Comment by opportune | Hacker News Reader

Wow, I just felt the back of my head and pretty sure I have this. It's a small bump where the skull rounds out and gives way to softer tissue. Not sure why it would be a negative thing though if it's just an adaptation to our posture

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At least according to the article, it's something usually seen in older people with "long-term poor posture and significant stress loads"; the intended implication—doubtless at least somewhat alarmist—seems to be that regular smartphone useage does as much damage to young people in a short time as was previously only done in a lifetime.

I don't see how it is "damaging" though. Weird, yes, but it's so small it seems neither unsightly nor likely to cause harm

I don't know anything about the research, and suspect the article is being alarmist, but I'm a little bit confused by our dialogue—first you asked why it was a negative thing, and now you're asking why it is a "damaging" thing, with "damaging" in quotes, even though neither the article nor I uses that word. I don't think that the article means to suggest that the bone growths themselves are causing damage, but rather that they are indicating damage (though, again, I have no expertise to evaluate that claim, and haven't even followed up on any links in the article).

It was a response to your post "seems to be that regular smartphone useage does as much damage to young people in a short time as was previously only done in a lifetime."

Right you are; I didn't read my own post carefully enough. I still think that the intended interpretation is that the growths are indicative of, rather than the cause of, damage.

If you're a normal, genetic male, this is normal. If you're female, then this would not be normal. In fact, a palpable structure at the farthest edge of the outer rearmost point on the skull is a way to tell one's birth gender in most instances: yes = genetic male, no = genetic female. Rarely (if ever) do gender reassignment surgeries eliminate this structure when transitioning from male to female.

Source: physical anatomy and anthropology courses.

EDIT: I suspect this "news" article is completely fraudulent, The Onion-style or an April Fools' joke.

I am a genetic male, thank you for letting me know I was just getting trolled. I mean that sincerely, I don't know much about anatomy, so I wouldn't even know how to search for whether something like this normal

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