Standing Desks: A Brief History
Marina Terteryan
I have a friend who is the ultimate early adopter of - not just technologies - but also mindsets and habits, way before they hit the mass market. About fifteen years ago, I remember him telling me that his co-workers used to tease him because he kept a bunch of empty boxes by his desk. Throughout the day, he would stack the boxes on top of each other, then hoist his desktop computer, monitor and keyboard on the boxes, and work standing up.
"It prevents my ass going numb from sitting all day," he said.
At the time, computer culture had such a strong emphasis on sitting, that the thought of working at a desk while standing felt so foreign.
Still, I was amused. “Being on the computer while standing? That’s kind of bizarre, no?”
“It is. It takes a LOT of getting used to. I can only do it for like 30 minutes at a time before the rest of my body hurts.”
Standing desks were only for the eccentric kooky CEOs and Chris Trager types (Parks and Rec reference, anyone?).
I didn’t think much about it because I couldn’t imagine doing the same at the corporate office where I worked at the time. I was trying so hard to get SITTING right, that introducing a new habit felt overwhelming. Plus, there was a big fuss about getting the proper ergonomic heights for my computer and keyboard - why on earth would anybody want to move them multiple times a day?
I laughed it off and forgot about it.
A few years later, I opened my design studio and I spared no expense to create an ergonomic environment for myself and my team. Again, I was obsessed with sitting properly. So much so, that the minute I hit my first sales target, I bought myself a Herman Miller Aeron chair - the ultimate symbol of comfort and status.
Standing? Pah! Never once crossed my mind.
Even though, this is a good time to mention that there is a long history of popular historical figures who have used standing desks. (Side note - most of them are men, so if anybody finds good evidence of more women in history who enjoyed a good standing desk, please let me know.)
Meanwhile, in this lifetime, standing desks began making their way into our popular public dialogue just a few years ago, when the “War on Sitting” began.
Reports started coming out that sitting all day was causing long-term health problems.
Evening news anchors put on their best concerned faces, looked squarely into the camera, stating that “sitting is the new smoking!”
Admittedly, it’s a good phrase that gets our attention and highlights the severity of how much sitting all day can damage our bodies.
Spoiler alert: eventually, I traded my Aeron chair for a portable standing desk and haven't looked back. But thinking about the journey has made me realize that we owe some gratitude to standing desks.
We don’t give enough credit to standing desks for having disrupted office work habits as we know it.
And - when done right, I consider standing desks to be the gateway drug for good ergonomics.
They give us an antagonist (sitting) and a hero (standing) to connect to. They provide an alternate solution to a scary problem and point us towards what seems to be a small lifestyle change with big results.
And, like with anything, they are only as good as how effectively we use them. So you know I've got to talk next about what to do and what not to do, in order to build good standing desk habits to benefit your body and not damage it further.