A woman has claimed that she was left confined to her bed and needing a wheelchair after spending up to 14 hours a day on her phone.
As reported by The Mirror, 29-year-old Fenella Fox revealed that she used to scroll through various social media apps on her iPad and iPhone devices for most of the day.
However, in early 2021, the social media influencer - who has amassed 156,000 followers on Instagram - said that she began experiencing headaches and neck pain that gradually intensified. Soon after, she started suffering from dizzy spells and nausea.
"I just felt like I really couldn’t walk properly," Fox told the outlet. "I felt really unwell. Dizzy, and kind of distorted. I can visualize it, but it’s not easy to explain."
During the beginning of her problems, Fox was living in Portugal, where the medics were confused by her troubles. As her symptoms began started to heighten, she flew back to the UK to be looked after by her parents.
"I got a taxi to the airport fine, but when I was in the airport, that’s when I was met with a wheelchair," she recalled. "I had a wheelchair from that point up until meeting my mom on the other end and the wheelchair up until the door of her car."
The British brunette allegedly became bedridden and unable to walk and had to rely on a wheelchair whenever she needed to move around. However, she was still addicted to her device despite it being the alleged root of her problems.
The doctors in the UK were equally confused as the Porotugues medics and "didn't know" the cause of Fox's situation until her father found an article on "cybersickness" and "digital vertigo" that mirrored the symptoms she felt.
After reading up on the condition she reportedly has, the content creator said she "turned off my phone and threw it into the back of the cupboard or gave it to my parents and was like, 'Please do not let me on this,'" and was suddenly "able to walk again".
Fox told the outlet that if she uses her phone for several hours a day, the devastating symptoms can return and take about three or four days to go away again.
While she hasn't disclosed if she was diagnosed with vertigo by a doctor, many medical specialists have informed patients that excessive screen time can impact their health.
"Cybersickness occurs when your brain receives messages that you’re moving — for instance, by a flashing screen — when you are, in fact, still," Dr. Gillian Isaacs Russell told Real Simple, stating that it causes "visual-vestibular conflict" - which is like motion sickness.
"[Visual vestibular conflict] creates a type of confusion where your eyes sense one thing and your inner ear and body detect something else," Dr. Christina Finn also told the publication.
Unfortunately for the woman, she relies on social media for income as she is a prominent model on OnlyFans and reportedly makes about $15,000 a month.
Talking about the impact this could have on her online job, Fox said: "It is unreal. That is our life, our world. If we want to make money, we’ve got to be on [our phone] wake until sleep. There are so many hours to put in."
While she still posts on her Instagram page often, Fox has pledged to limit her time on her phone, proclaiming: "I can’t do it anymore, I can’t do it myself. I try sometimes to put in the hours that I used to but I get sick all over again."
