Computer Ergonomics as Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2015-05-07
·
1,287 words · ~6 min read
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ergonomics is the study and design of equipment and devices that properly fit
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the human body it's a big topic but in this video I'll be talking about
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computer related ergonomics if you're a computer worker like me and you spend
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your whole day sitting down in a fixed position you should know that this can
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lead to all sorts of health problems like a repetitive strain injury and
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trust me you do not want to get RSI like I did it's really painful more info
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about that and how I recovered in this video but an ounce of prevention is
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worth a pound of cure with some ergonomic fixes and changes in Behavior
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you can keep on working or gaming or whatever while minimizing the negative
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health effects but first please note that everyone is different at 6'3 an
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ergonomic solution for me might not work for someone like lonus cuz he's short
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did did you know that lonus has to stand on an Apple box in some of the videos
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that we make you're fired worth it so anyway let's start
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with the monitor the top of your monitor should be right around your eye level
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the monitor should also o be arms length away from your face but still large
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enough so that you don't have to lean forward to see things if that makes it
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hard to read text you can try increasing the text size or UI scale you can even
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try using a lower than native display resolution but that's kind of a terrible
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solution you can get special computer viewing glasses which allow your eyes to
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more easily focus on your monitor reducing eye strain it's the same idea
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behind reading glasses talk to your optician some people love these but I
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don't speaking of eye strain make sure your monitor isn't too bright or too
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dark your screen should match the brightness of the room you're in note
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that if you're doing color sensitive work you'll still want to properly color
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calibrate your monitor also be aware if your monitor has a matte or glossy
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finish glossy monitors can have more Vivid colors but they can be hard to see
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if there are a lot of bright Reflections in the room now onto the chair most
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office chairs already have lumbar support Wheels swivel and height adjust
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all of which is great you may also want a chair that can lean backwards
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especially with tension adjust and lockable angles by the way we've
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reviewed a few adjustable chairs online as Tech tips already you might prefer to
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have a headrest and it's also nice to have fully adjustable armrests but if
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they just get in your way you might want to remove them completely now your
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keyboard and mouse should be at the same height as your elbows when your
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shoulders are relaxed with the keyboard tilted slightly away from you lots of
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ergonomic advice tells you to use a roll out keyboard tray which hangs under the
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desk which I completely disagree with I
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prefer to move the entire desk down to that height which allows for so much
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more room I also like to sco up as close to my desk as possible so that I can
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rest my arms on it rather than my armrests but again your preferred setup
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will vary and speaking of desks height adjustable desks are great especially
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the ones that can go from sitting to standing height however it's important
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to note the mechanism by which this is accomplished you should be able to make
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the transition in oh I don't know like less than in a minute also when it comes
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to desk space I feel like bigger really is better so what about keyboards well
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there are lots of different ergonomic keyboards some terrible some amazing
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more like amazingly expensive I tried the Microsoft natural ergonomic keyboard
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but then I realized that as a video editor I need to use my right hand on
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the mouse and my left hand on the whole keyboard for keyboard shortcuts but this
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split design makes that stupidly difficult a programmer or a writer would
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have a much better experience you might also find that typing on a mechanical
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keyboard is easier than a membrane keyboard but keep in mind that there are
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many different kinds of mechanical keyboard switches as we cover in this
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video also you might want to consider switching to a Colac or dvorac keyboard
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layout uh more info in that video and finally the mouse there seem to be an
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endless selection of weird looking ergonomic mice some of them are
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vertically oriented some of them are at an angle some of them aren't actually
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mice the trackman marble has great reviews but I just hated it like
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scrolling requires a button toggle what this is not good for video editing note
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that some mice and keyboards have macro buttons which can be wonderful or they
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might just get in your way wait what's a macro oh look we already made a video
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about that but most importantly with whatever ergonomic equipment you decide
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to get you need to fully test your new equipment in the context of your current
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setup to make sure it truly works for you for example foot pedals plus a
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standing desk probably a bad combination with anything you buy be aware of the
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return policy and save that receipt now listen I know that not all of you or
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your employers can afford to drop hundreds perhaps thousands of dollars on
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fancy new ergonomic equipment but some solutions can cost little to nothing uh
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try using boxes as monitor stands use books or wood to raise your desk height
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use software like Auto hotkey to turn your numpad or function keys or whatever
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into macros you're smart enough to mcgyver up something right get creative
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and Beyond ergonomics you can also adjust your behavior getting regular
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exercise is obviously important for good health but to combat the negative
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effects of too much sitting you should take frequent small breakes where you
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just stand up and move around the
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general consensus is to take micro breaks of 30 to 60 seconds every 15ish
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minutes and to take longer 5 minute breaks every hour is yeah there's really
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not much consensus here there are lots of different options for reminder
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software which will alert you when it's time for a break and if you want to be
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more productive while you are working to make up for all those little breaks you
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watching don't forget to like subscribe share comment all that YouTube stuff
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because it helps the channel somehow and we'll see you next time