(tekst MES.ij in.juh.ree)
n.
A form of repetitive stress injury caused by excessive use of the thumb to type text messages into a mobile phone. Also: TMI.
Example Citation:
Last year, Andrew Chadwick, director of the British RSI Association, suggested that children obsessed with text messaging could be at risk from TMI — text message injury — a painful swelling and inflammation of the fingers and thumbs.
— Nigel Powell, "When text messaging can be bad for your health," The Times (London), April 9, 2002
Earliest Citation:
The craze for text messaging could create an RSI epidemic, a charity has warned. The rapid movements used to send text from a mobile phone can cause a new form of repetitive strain injury dubbed TMI.
The RSI Association believes text message injury could afflict huge numbers of people as the texting craze grows.
Director Andrew Chadwick said: "We're talking about people making hundreds of tiny repeated movements as they use the keypad.
"That's almost a prefect recipe for causing RSI."
— "Texting is bad 4u," The Mirror, April 4, 2001
Notes:
Word Spy subscriber Ravi Subramanian has suggested that another name for this type of medical condition ought to be "repetitive press injury." Thumbs up!
Related Words:
Category:
New words. 2013.