2016年12月英语四级作文练习：晕屏症

　　2016年12月英语四级作文练习：晕屏症

Cybersickness

　　The rise of mobile phones has been blamed for a number of social ills, but your smart phone may also be making you physically sick as well. Scientists have identified a condition called “cybersickness”, which they say is the digital version of motion sickness. The phenomenon, which affects up to 80 percent of the population who own smartphones or tablets, leads to feelings of nausea and unsteadiness. It is caused by seeing fast motion on a screen and covers anything from a car chase in a film to scrolling through web pages on your phone. The more realistic the visual content is, the higher your chances of getting cybersickness. The condition was identified in a piece in the New York Times in which British and US experts said that it needed addressing. Cyriel Diels, a cognitive psychologist and human factors researcher at Coventry University’s centre for Mobility and Transport, said: “It’s a fundamental problem that’s kind of been swept under the carpet in the tech industry.” “It’s a natural response to an unnatural environment.” Motion sickness leaves sufferers feeling ill because they feel movement in your muscles and your inner ear but do not see it. The mismatch in digital sickness is the opposite—you see movement on the screen but do not feel it. The effect is the same and the symptoms include a headache, wanting to throw up, confusion and the need to sit down. Often cybersickness manifests itself in a subtle way and sufferers put it down to stress or eyestrain.Steven Rauch, a professor of otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School, said: “Your sense of balance is different than other senses in that it has lots of inputs.” When those inputs don’t agree, that’s when you feel dizziness and nausea “Some studies that have been carried out into cybersickness found that women are more susceptible than men, the New York Times reported. Those who have Type A’ personalities—meaning they are confident and assertive—are more likely to suffer from cybersickness as well. Among those who have reported experiencing the condition have been video gamers who spend hours playing fast paced games. Cinema-goers have struggled with some scenes in action movies which have quick cuts and fast editing—and virtual reality has made the problem even worse. Jonathan Weinstein, a professor at the Kanbar Institute for Film and Television at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, said: “The idea is to get audiences to feel like participants in the action rather than outside observers of the action. Engineers at Oculus VR, the virtual headset manufacturer, have admitted that digital motion sickness is one of their biggest problems.

　　cybersickness 晕屏症

　　scrolling on phone 刷屏

　　smartphones 智能手机

　　tablets 平板

　　nausea 眩晕，恶心

　　sweep sth. Under the carpet 掩盖错误

　　susceptible 易受影响的