Is your phone damaging your finger?

A viral video spread across the social media platform TikTok last week, in which a girl describes how holding a mobile phone can change the shape and appearance of the little finger. Well established news sources jumped on the story and alluded to the possibility that “smartphone pinky”, as the social media user labelled it, could result in long term permanent damage. And this isn’t the first time it’s been reported. Articles dating to 2016 highlight the phenomenon as well. Here at The Naked Scientists though, we were surprised by the supposedly reliable expertise used in the articles, so we said ‘the gloves are coming off’ and got Harry Lewis to find out from orthopaedic surgeon, Maxim Horwitz, whether we should be changing the way in which we carry our mobiles, or if these claims are just… “phoney”?