By Sheena Goel
Today we have a very interesting but very underrated subject of discussing the
dangers of overusing a mobile Phone. Underrated because not very many people pay attention to the “danger” part of mobile usage. Yes, you read it right. Mobile Phones have their fair share of cons associated with them, which our conscious mind tends to ignore and that too very consciously. Using mobile is extremely addictive in nature, without a label of “injurious to health”. Mostly it falls under the category of passive addiction compounded by the fact that everyone in a family owns a handset and it has become an evil necessity.
Right from the basic function of phone calling, texting, calculations, chatting to
entertainment, photography to shopping and socializing to banking to using
government services and finding a variety of information, is there a task your
mobile cannot do and that you can live without? It has become proverbial magic
lamp of sorts. Solving all your predicaments at will.
Whereas dangers associated with the overuse sneak upon us over a stretched
period of time, so much so that we barely realize that it’s too late.
Researches have shown that prolonged use of mobile phones can have a variety
of mild to severe effects on the health. The most noticeable one being poor
eyesight, memory loss and poor concentration.
Other than the above mentioned few, following have been reported to be caused
with the prolong use of mobiles:
- cancer and other tumors
- damage to fertility and reproduction
- DNA damage
- muscle strain injury
- increased illness due to germs
- physiological issues like Anger, Tension, Depression, Irritability, Restlessnes
and In-tolerance
The World Health Organization (WHO) has a classified mobile phones as a
“possible carcinogen” as the radiations from the mobile phones can cause brain
tumours. However, it can lead to poor sleep quality and duration. It can cause
wraps views on reality. It alters right judgment and can cause people to think
negatively or to mistake delusional events as real.
Electromagnetic waves compounded with attention diversion cause loss of
memory or worse still distorted retention of actual facts. Figural memory, which
helps us make sense of images, patterns and shapes, gets negatively affected by
the use of mobile devices, as revealed in a recent study by the researchers at
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH).
A study by the National Institutes of Health in the US suggests that mobile phones
increases higher sugar use in the brain, a sign of increased activity, after 50
minutes on the phone. Concentrating on a small digital screen with strong led lights causes burn out of cornea and have known incidents of people loosing eyesight while using their mobile phones in dark. Mobile thumbs is most common orthopedic injury reported amongst youngsters, while others complain of cervical because everyone is so engrossed in mobile, people forget to take appropriate breaks to relieve their muscles, on the contrary they relegate to poor body postures causing long term injury to bones, nerves and muscles, which become difficult to cure.
Mobiles are known to be most common carriers of bacteria and viruses, almost 1
in 6 mobiles are reported to carry fecal matter on it, what with people carrying
their mobiles to wash rooms and using them as pass times or to simply keep
connected always. These can cause viral fevers, conjunctivitis, diarrhea and many
more. Hence, it would be safe to remain cautioned against the potential dangers of
mobile usage and practice limiting the mobile consumption.
References:
1. https://www.psychguides.com/behavioral-disorders/cell-phone-addiction/signs-and-
symptoms/
2. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-12541117
3. https://www.nhs.uk/news/lifestyle-and-exercise/mobile-phones-risk-discussed/
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17928386/
Comments