Smartphones are the most common types of cell phones used and have become an
integral part of our daily lives. Although smartphones and cell phones make our
life so much easier no one can deny that this modern technology brings
some harm to them. As our technology improves the quality of our life, it may be
deteriorating our health. Nowadays, adults are not the only ones to use smartphones
but many parents give their children their cell phones to offer a handy
entertainment option. A study suggests that the bone marrow of a child absorbs almost 10 times more radiation
than that of an adult. We
all are unknowingly destroying our health by getting addicted to our phones. Smartphones are also
one of the few sources that emit a high level of radiation. Due to this
harmful microwave radiation, holding a smartphone, or any cell phone, in your
pocket or bra is extremely risky to reproductive organs and breasts.
Should we be
concerned about the health risks with all those mobile devices? Here in this
article HEALTHY and FITNESS discuss are some health risks of mobile phones that
affects your physical and psychological health:
Your
Psychological Health
As estimated
63% of adults in the age group 18-29 and 30% of people in the age group 30-64
fall asleep with a smartphone in their hand. Along with your physical health, a smartphone can adversely affect your mental health by hampering your biorhythm,
memory, attentiveness, and concentration.
6-EFFECTS OF
SMARTPHONES ON MENTAL HEALTH
1. Smartphone Use Demotes Our Social Interactions
According to research conducted on the way smartphone affects the way we
think, found that smartphones or cell phones truly interfere with normal
socialization. Using a smartphone disables your cognitive ability in connecting
and socializing with other people. This may make you further withdrawing
from society and increasing the chance of being a “shut-in.” Smartphones keep
you indoors and you no longer visit people. The use of smartphones negatively
affects your mood and pace to do work, especially if you have to work in a group setting.
It decreases your attention from the people around you and your surroundings as
a whole.
Even our mood can hamper due to our habitat of using the phone before sleep.
People become
irritable and it can even cause depression. A study conducted by
Northwestern University says that the more time people spend on their phones
especially at night time, the higher the risk of them getting depressed.
We use smartphones to capture the best and most memorable moments in our
lives by photos and videos. Sometimes smartphones may the cause behind our
memory loss because we are exclusively reliant on technology to remember
things for us and we stop bothering to remember things by ourselves. Therefore,
“special” moments of our life become a part of digital photos rather than
internal memories. It becomes harder and harder to remember old, and already
existing information in your brain. As a result, it requires more effort to
remember things.
4. Smartphone Use Weakens Your Inductive Reasoning
Now a day to
know something unknown has become just a click away. Google made it extremely
convenient to gather knowledge. However, it may backfire on us. Our over-reliance on Google and on the
internet to solve the problems and questions has weakened our mental
intelligence and abilities to logically solve the problem and determine the right
answers on our own. This trend is noticed due to our utter dependence on what
the Internet is serving us. We assume that the answers we garner from the
internet are simply correct rather than reading about things and making
conclusions analytically.
5. Smartphones Raise Your Stress Level
The use of Smartphones raises your stress level. With the increasing use of smartphones, the boundaries between work and home are
being erased and raising the level of stress at both places. According to a
recent study shows the use of mobile phones can cause work worries to spill over
into home time for both men and women and exponentially increasing stress levels.
6.
Smartphone Use Addiction
The overuse of smartphones is leading to
dependency syndrome or smartphone addiction. Constant use of smartphones creates learned
compulsive behaviors (like self-importance). In an average young adult checks
their phone over 60 times per day and sending about 109 text messages, this
type of behavior could lead to potentially dangerous addictions.
What can you do to
avoid these dreadful Psychological consequences?
Stop work with smartphones at least two hours before sleep. This time is
typically enough for our brain to understand that it is already night and it is
high time we have prepared for high-quality healthy rest. Read a paper book
instead of surfing the internet or watching movies online. Use special
applications if you have some urgent work to do or an important message to
receive and it is not possible to switch off your mobile phone. Modern
technologies come to the rescue; there are special filters you can add to your
screen. These filters are not physical, these are special applications, that
filter blue light the light scheme of your gadget changes according to the time
of the day or night when you use the device the screen gets a warmer redder
glow when it becomes dark outside.
Your
Physical Health
Not only mental and psychological health is languishing due to our usage
of smartphones, our physical health also deteriorating. We are eliminating
some of the physical activities we do every day due to the convenience the
smartphone providing us and converting the free time into destructive “lazy” or
“procrastinating” moments.
13-HEALTH RISKS OF SMARTPHONES
Night-time is your favorite time to chat and gossip with your friends
on your smartphone after a busy day. However, this nighttime engagement with a smartphone
is the main reason why you are sleep deprived.
As estimated 63% of adults in the age group 18-29 and 30% of people in the age
group 30-64 fall asleep with a smartphone in their hands. High mobile
phone use was associated with disruptive sleeping patterns. The blue light emitted from electronic
devices disrupts the production of melatonin hormones. These melatonin hormones promoting sleep, and secreted when we are in darkness. Mobile rings
and vibration are also major contributing factors to interrupted sleep patterns
are getting awakened in the middle of the night.
2. Smartphone Causes Neck And Back Pain
Smartphone users spend an average of two to four hours per day checking
their phones. The use of a smartphone makes you physically less active and weakens
your bones. Constant tilting down to check your phone screen can lead to neck
and back pain as well as migraines. Spine surgeons notice that poor posture during prolonged smartphone use; leads to an increase in patients
with neck and upper back pain. Spinal stress due to misalignment of your spine can hamper your overall health and
well-being.
3. Smartphone Increase Accident-Risk
Smartphones distracting you from your physical surroundings can lead to an accident and physical injury. This does not depend on which brand you an iPhone,
Samsung, Nokia, flip phone, or a Blackberry. The chances to check your phone aggressively is undoubtedly higher
while traveling. A mobile phone can be a potential distraction while driving
or while crossing the road. According to the World Health Organization, a lot
of research showing 3-4 times increased risk of traffic accidents with mobile
usage.
Smartphones improved the accessibility of your favorite games, movies, and
social media apps digitally at your fingertips. You are able to do whatever you
want in just a few clicks. This leads to sedentary behavior and a lack of
physical activity that are contributing factors to obesity and risks for
chronic illnesses. According to a study, the risk of obesity in kids increased by 43 percent due to the use of
screen devices more than 5 hours a day.
5. Smartphone Damage
Your Brain
You may develop a tumor due to your cell phone usage! Research
conducted for 2-year in Finland by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority
found that radiation from mobile phones may cause brain tissue damage. Our
brain activity gets accelerate by smartphones, even after just 50 minutes
of use. This shows how sensitive our brain is to mobile electromagnetic
radiation, and the magnitude of its effect for long-term usage. A recent
judgment by the Italian court states that a man's heavy mobile phone use caused him
to develop a benign brain tumor. He testified that his job required him to use
his mobile phone for 15 years, 3-4 hours every day.
6. Smartphone Use Can Lead To Increased Physical Injury
The use of a smartphone makes you physically less active. Lack of physical
activity begins to weaken the muscles in your body along with your endurance
and immune system. Sedentary also weaken your bones and in turn, makes you
prone to physical injury.
Chronic diseases as heart problems get
more complicated by radio waves emitted by mobile phones. According to a study published
in the European Journal of Oncology, microwave radiations emitted by mobile
phones contribute to abnormalities in heart function. Smartphones emit
radiation, which causes red blood cells to seep hemoglobin. This leaked
hemoglobin then accumulates in the body, which can lead to health complications
including heart disease or
kidney stones.
Beware, men! Your cell phone can even make you infertile. A
study (2009) on rats found that the mobile phone radiation negatively affects semen quality, decreases
sperm count and may impair male fertility. Wdowiak A and
colleagues carried out research to identify whether the same holds true in
humans, which revealed that the group of men who used mobile phones had a sperm
cell count in their semen decreased, leading to infertility.
9.
Smartphone Increases Cancer Risk
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), radiofrequency
(RF) emitted mobile phones are 1000 times greater than what emitted from base
stations. This increased emission obviously has some harmful effects on the health of mobile
users. Radiofrequency is identified as a possible carcinogen in humans by
International Agency for Research on Cancer.
10. Smartphone
Causes Hearing Impairment
Prolong mobile phone use may result in inner ear damage that may lead to hearing impairment. Individuals who attended
phone calls for 2 hours on an average every day are at a higher risk of
impaired hearing compared to those who moderate (10-20 mins.) users. Mobile phone users more likely to have high-frequency hearing loss, if
they have symptoms such as a warm sensation, fullness in the ears, or ringing.
Mobile phone radiation
is another factor that causes hearing disability. Overexposure to mobile phones, the electromagnetic field contributes to decreasing hearing function.
You might get vision disorders for the overuse of smartphones. Interviewing 2000 people for the reasons for
their vision problems, 55% admitted that their eye discomfort might be due to the overuse of smartphones. Most of us use our
mobiles to do web surfing, read e-books, and text messages. When you do so,
the small font size and glaring smartphone screen strain your eyes, especially
if you are reading in the dark. You tend to squint or open up your eyes wide open
to read the smaller screen of your mobile devices. You also blink a lesser number
of times while watching your smartphone. This causes your eyes to dry up,
irritate, and redden. The bluest light from the smartphone screen negatively
affects the retina of our eyes and damages it, especially in darkness. The optic nerve along with eye structure gets
irritated and our eyes get tired. In extreme cases, it may lead to almost
blindness.
Most mobile phones and
phone accessories
are coated with a
metallic polish to make them look more attractive. Such phones reported to contain potential skin allergens like nickel, chromium, and cobalt that cause mobile
phone dermatitis. Metal allergens show symptoms like dry-itchy patches
and redness on the face or ears, blistering, lesions, and rarely oozing. Researchers
from the US and Denmark found at least 37 incidents since 2000 where contact
dermatitis caused by mobile phones. Marcella Aquino and
colleagues conducted tests on 72 cell phones for the presence of nickel and
cobalt. About
90.5 percent of flip phones were tested positive for nickel, about 29.4 percent of Blackberry models tested positive for nickel, and about 52 percent of
flip phones had cobalt.
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13. Smartphone
Carries Infections
Mobile
phones not only serve as a home for your valuable data but also carry millions
of infectious organisms. Mobile phones carried bacterial pathogens that can
cause vomiting, diarrhea, and even skin infections. A recent study found that mobile phones highly
contaminated with organisms of fecal origin and could be as dirty as public toilet seats. The
heat generated by the phones makes a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. They are a home for several pathogens like Staphyloccocus
aureus (known to cause skin infections)
and E.coli (known to cause vomiting and diarrhea).
Cleaning your mobile phone with a disinfectant is always a good idea to stay safe from these germs.
What You Can Do to Protect Yourself?
So, be careful the next time you use your mobile phone incessantly. You are exposed to
a great deal of radiation through the use of smartphones. The best way for protecting yourself
is to reduce the number of verbal conversations you are having on the phone. Try
to use speakerphone when you are at home, and utilize text messaging if you
can. Let us know how to use your cell phone safely.
Productive
Ways To Take A Break From Your Smartphone
1. Enjoy Outdoor Activity
Get out of the house, go for a walk or a run, and re-establish your
connection with nature. Invite your friends to play your favorite sport. Try all
the outdoor activities that you love like mountain biking or camping. Make time
to encourage your social interactions with your colleagues and friends.
2. Read A Book
Reading your favorite novel in the library or bookstore and get a
physical copy, instead of reading it on your smartphone. Reading a physical
book beside a window with a hot beverage is the best way to feel relaxed.
3. Get A Pen And Write
The old-fashioned way of writing on paper is still the best way to
express your feelings. Take your time out writing a letter to someone special
using a pen and paper. Make habit of writing regular dairy expressing all your
thoughts and sentiments.
4. Spend Some Time On Your Hobbies
Spend Some Time On your hobbies like
cooking, gardening, fishing, or paint and spend some time on yourself.
5. Bond With Your Pets
Dogs are considered “man’s best friend.” Spending time with your
pets are a great way to relieve stress and feel happier.
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