Effects of Mobile Phone on Human Health, is there really any danger associated with using a cell phone?

The year was 1973 when a Motorola employee, Martin Cooper stood in Manhattan and placed the first ever call from a mobile phone to the headquarters of Bell Labs in New Jersey.

That was the moment our generation was revolutionized. But have you ever sat and wondered if this luxury tool that has had a profound effect on making our lives easy, enjoyable and livable could be having dangerous effects on our lives and health?

Let's discuss the Negative effects of Mobile Phone on Human Health and some ways to fix it.

Since 1973, the number of calls and call times of people has generally increased. With the advent of social media and instant messaging apps, the amount of time we spend on our mobile phones has INCREASED DRASTICALLY.

There are times when we spend more than four hours consecutively on our mobile phones switching from one app to another. We go from instant messaging to social media, to facetime, to candy crush like a programmed mindless robot.

What all this screen time and “pop culture” navigation get us are information and entertainment, but there are some adverse effects it poses on our health if adequate precaution and care are not taken into consideration.

Those effects are not limited to the physical. Our mobile phones also have mental and sometimes emotional effects on our health.
Below are 5 Negative Effects of Mobile Phone on Human Health and How to Deal with It.

Human Cognitive Capacity

1. It can affect your Cognitive Capacity (Working memory capacity and functional fluid intelligence)

The signals are everywhere if we take a moment to look around us. In his book “smart phones dumb people?”, Parthajeet Sarma talked about how technology is taking over our lives.

Not in a Skynet type of way, YET, but we all depend on our phones heavily for day to day cognitive tasks ranging from the simple ones like performing simple subtraction to the technical ones like knowing what the weather would look like today. This act is having a negative effect on the cognitive abilities of our brains.

“Our smartphones enable and encourage constant connection to information, entertainment, and each other. They put the world at our fingertips, and rarely leave our sides. Although these devices have immense potential to improve welfare, their persistent presence may come at a cognitive cost” – a study conducted at the University of Chicago

Researchers are referring to this condition as Smartphone-induced “Brain-Drain”. Working memory is the ability of the brain to remember information temporarily and functional fluid intelligence is the ability to solve problems and identify patterns.

The study tested these two functions on nearly 800 phone users. It was found that having your phone nearby when you want to perform a cognitive task like taking an exam reduces the capacity of the working memory and functional fluid intelligence compared to putting your phones in other rooms or leaving it at home altogether.

So, part of that recent forgetfulness you’ve been experiencing might be due to your constant use and presence of your mobile phones around you.

Your cell phone is a germ “warehouse” which promotes free radicals, bacterial infections, and viral infections.

You probably don’t know your cellphone has 10 times more bacteria than a toilet seat.

This was found by scientists at the University of Arizona. Our hands are a good general collector of germs because of all the places and things we touch during the course of the day.

Continue reading the dangers of using mobile phones here