Does Prolonged Smartphone Use Result in Horn Growth?

If you were paying attention last week, chances are you saw the headlines that an entire generation of teens is sprouting horns at the base of their skulls thanks to prolonged bad posture while using their cell phones, the idea being that the gesture of constantly looking down at their phones is encouraging such growth. However, tuning back in this week, you’ll find that the reports are largely being debunked.

Originally, reports emerged that professors from the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, discovered that of 218 study participants ranging in age from 18 to 30, 40% had what is called an “enlarged external occipital protuberance,” or EEOP; this is, essentially, bone growth near the base of the skull. Also playfully (or terrifyingly, your choice) dubbed “phone bones” or “head horns,” researchers built on that initial finding by examining the X-rays of 1,200 people (ages 18 to 86). Researchers determined that over one-third of the X-rays displaying those bone growths were the X-rays of those between the ages of 18 and 30 years old, leading them, naturally, to the conclusion that there was some sort of relationship between the development of the phone bones and the demographic most likely to be on their gadgets for prolonged periods.

However, before you begin discretely (or frantically) running your hand along the base of your teenager’s skull, take a moment and pull yourself together.

That this horn-like growth was presenting in the demographic most likely to be attached to their smartphones and tablets, researchers made a broad suggestion about the bone growth yet did not investigate it further.

The bone growths, which were around half an inch to just over an inch in length, are hardly worth the frenzy they generated last week, according to reports. Bone growths such as these have been detected before, most commonly in men and the elderly, but they have also been spotted in teens as well. In fact some research suggests that this type of bone growth is normal, occurring late in adolescence along with growth spurts. Likewise, researchers suggest that the bone growth can take place just about anywhere on the body (so, perhaps this crop of teens growing reverse horns should count themselves lucky).

Regardless, the majority of us probably kept it cool last week amid reports that future generations are growing stuff out of their skulls, while another, more manic contingent just spent a terrifying weekend envisioning their teenager as some sort of new-age goat.