It’s not just Apple’s iOS 7 that causes motion sickness
FOLLOWING on from last week’s news that users of Apple’s new operating system, iOS 7, were starting to feel motion sickness as a result of using it (and yes, up to the point of falling over and even vomiting) we’re getting the news that there are some people who are pretty much allergic to our bright new digital future. Quite simply some cannot deal with modern digital graphics and 3D effects and so are always going to be locked out: or on the floor throwing up of course.
The initial news that iOS 7 was causing problems came up in the Apple user forums:
The zoom animations everywhere on the new iOS 7 are literally making me nauseous and giving me a headache. It’s exactly how I used to get car sick if I tried to read in the car.
How do I turn them off? Do I have to revert to 6?
Sadly, while you can minimise some of the effects no, you can’t turn them off entirely. And once you’ve added iOS 7 to your iPhone or iPad no, you cannot go back to iOS 6. You have to junk the piece of iKit and buy another, making sure of course that it hasn’t already been upgraded.
Why this is all happening was explained here:
Reactions to screen-based systems — especially those utilising 3D effects — aren’t new. Cynthia Ryan, executive director of the Vestibular Disorders Association, says 3D effects can cause “intense nausea, dizziness and vertigo”, sometimes from general vision problems, but also from visual-vestibular conflict. She added symptoms “manifest more severely if a viewer already has a disorder of the vestibular system”.
The vestibular system is what gives us our sense of balance and sense of spatial awareness; it’s dependent on three mutually orthogonal fluid-filled canals in the inner ear. But when the vestibular system and visual system come into conflict, the effect can be distressing. John Golding, professor of applied psychology at the University of Westminster, says visually-induced motion-sickness often arises from “the induction of perceived self-motion while at the same time the vestibular system and somatosensory systems signal that the body is in fact static”.
But the latest point that is being made is that this isn’t, not only at least, something to do with Apple’s latest shiny shiny design. It’s more common than that:
Digitally induced motion sickness caused by iPhones, 3D films and computer games will become the biggest occupational illness of the 21st century, it has been claimed.
Tech experts have identified a variation on the traditional disorientating ailment, called ‘simulation sickness’ which is caused by looking at a screen rather than travelling in a boat, car or plane.
And they say the problem will only get worse, as gadgets become better at mimicking the real world around us.
And the problem is that susceptibility to this sort of thing might run as high as 5% of the population. Which is going to cause something of a problem if we have 95% of us delighted with all the new gadgetry and the other 5% throwing up as a result of it. Of course, it’s very much a First World Problem as yet but one that’s only going to get worse.
Posted: 30th, September 2013 | In: Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
